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{{Short description|Mauritanian author and former Guantanamo Bay detainee}}
{{Short description|Mauritanian author and former Guantanamo Bay detainee}}
{{Infobox War on Terror detainee
{{hatnote|In this Mauritanian name, [[Ould]] Slahi is a [[patronymic surname]].}}{{Infobox War on Terror detainee
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'''Mohamedou Ould Slahi''' ({{Lang-ar|محمدو ولد الصلاحي}}; born December 21, 1970) is a [[Mauritania]]n citizen who was detained at [[Guantánamo Bay detention camp]] without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016.<ref name=Guardian2016-10-17>{{cite news|last1=Ackerman|first1=Spencer|title=Guantánamo Diary author Mohamedou Ould Slahi freed after 14 years|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/17/guantanamo-diary-author-mohamedou-ould-slahi-detention|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=The Guardian|date=October 17, 2016}}</ref>
'''Mohamedou Ould Slahi''' ({{Langx|ar|محمدو ولد الصلاحي}}; born December 21, 1970) is a [[Mauritania]]n engineer who was detained at [[Guantánamo Bay detention camp]] without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016.<ref name=Guardian2016-10-17>{{cite news|last1=Ackerman|first1=Spencer|title=Guantánamo Diary author Mohamedou Ould Slahi freed after 14 years|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/17/guantanamo-diary-author-mohamedou-ould-slahi-detention|access-date=March 7, 2017|work=The Guardian|date=October 17, 2016}}</ref>


Slahi traveled from his home in Germany to [[Afghanistan]] in December 1990 "to support the mujahideen."<ref name="dccir">{{cite court |litigants=Salahi v. Obama |vol=625 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=745 |court=D.C. Cir. |date=2010 |url=http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/11/05/12/slahioverturnedTransportRoom.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|4}} Slahi trained in an al Qaeda camp and swore allegiance to the organization in March 1991. He returned to Germany soon after, but traveled back to Afghanistan for two months in early 1992. Slahi said that, after leaving Afghanistan the second time, he "severed all ties with ... al-Qaeda."<ref name="dccir" />{{rp|5}} The U.S. government maintains that Slahi "recruited for al-Qaeda and provided it with other support" since then.<ref name="dccir" />{{rp|5}} He lived in [[Montreal]], Quebec, Canada, from November 1999 to January 2000. Slahi was suspected of involvement in the attempted [[Los Angeles International Airport|LAX]] bombing and was investigated by the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]]. Due to the scrutiny, Slahi returned to live in [[Mauritania]] where he was questioned and cleared of involvement.
Slahi traveled from his home in Germany to [[Afghanistan]] in December 1990 "to support the mujahideen."<ref name="dccir">{{cite court |litigants=Salahi v. Obama |vol=625 |reporter=F.3d |opinion=745 |court=D.C. Cir. |date=2010 |url=http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2010/11/05/12/slahioverturnedTransportRoom.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|4}} Slahi trained in an [[al Qaeda]] camp and swore allegiance to the organization in March 1991. He returned to Germany soon after, but traveled back to Afghanistan for two months in early 1992. Slahi said that, after leaving Afghanistan the second time, he "severed all ties with ... al-Qaeda."<ref name="dccir" />{{rp|5}} The U.S. government maintains that Slahi "recruited for al-Qaeda and provided it with other support" since then.<ref name="dccir" />{{rp|5}} He lived in [[Montreal]], Quebec, Canada, from November 1999 to January 2000. Slahi was suspected of involvement in the [[2000 millennium attack plots#LAX bombing plot|attempted LAX bombing]] and was investigated by the [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]]. Due to the scrutiny, Slahi returned to live in [[Mauritania]] where he was questioned and cleared of involvement.


After the [[September 11 attacks]], the U.S. again was interested in Slahi. He was brought in for questioning by Mauritanian authorities on November 20, 2001, after which he was detained for seven days and questioned by Mauritanian officers and by agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).<ref name="der">{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/from-germany-to-guantanamo-the-career-of-prisoner-no-760-a-583193.html |title=From Germany to Guantanamo: The Career of Prisoner No. 760 |work=Der Spiegel |date=October 9, 2008 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref> The [[CIA]] then transported Slahi to a [[Jordan]]ian prison through its [[Extraordinary rendition by the United States|extraordinary rendition program]]; he was held for eight months. Slahi said he was tortured by the Jordanians. After being flown to Afghanistan and held for two weeks, he was transferred to military custody and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in [[Cuba]] on August 4, 2002, under the authority of the 2001 [[Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001|Authorization for Use of Military Force]] (AUMF).<ref name="judgedemolished">{{cite web |url=http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/04/21/mohamedou-ould-salahi-how-a-judge-demolished-the-us-governments-al-qaeda-claims/ |title=Mohamedou Ould Slahi: How a Judge Demolished the U.S. Government's Al-Qaeda Claims |last=Worthington |first=Andy |author-link =Andy Worthington |date=April 21, 2010 |access-date=January 27, 2011}}</ref> Slahi was subjected to sleep deprivation, isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation at Guantánamo. In one documented incident, he was blindfolded and taken out to sea in a boat for a mock execution. Lt. Col [[Stuart Couch]] refused to prosecute Slahi in a [[Guantánamo military commission|Military Commission]] in 2003. He said that "Salahi's incriminating statements—the core of the government's case—had been taken through [[torture]], rendering them inadmissible under U.S. and international law."<ref name="WSJ31Mar2007">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117529704337355155 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 31, 2007 |title=The Conscience of the Colonel |last=Bravin |first=Jess |access-date=August 28, 2012}} [http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/wf040107.htm mirror]</ref>
After the [[September 11 attacks]], the U.S. again was interested in Slahi. He was brought in for questioning by Mauritanian authorities on November 20, 2001, after which he was detained for seven days and questioned by Mauritanian officers and by agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).<ref name="der">{{cite news |url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/from-germany-to-guantanamo-the-career-of-prisoner-no-760-a-583193.html |title=From Germany to Guantanamo: The Career of Prisoner No. 760 |work=Der Spiegel |date=October 9, 2008 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref> The [[CIA]] then transported Slahi to a [[Jordan]]ian prison through its [[Extraordinary rendition by the United States|extraordinary rendition program]]; he was held for eight months. Slahi said he was tortured by the Jordanians. After being flown to Afghanistan and held for two weeks, he was transferred to military custody and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in [[Cuba]] on August 4, 2002, under the authority of the 2001 [[Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001|Authorization for Use of Military Force]] (AUMF).<ref name="judgedemolished">{{cite web |url=http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2010/04/21/mohamedou-ould-salahi-how-a-judge-demolished-the-us-governments-al-qaeda-claims/ |title=Mohamedou Ould Slahi: How a Judge Demolished the U.S. Government's Al-Qaeda Claims |last=Worthington |first=Andy |author-link =Andy Worthington |date=April 21, 2010 |access-date=January 27, 2011}}</ref> Slahi was subjected to sleep deprivation, isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation at Guantánamo. In one documented incident, he was blindfolded and taken out to sea in a boat for a mock execution. Lt. Col [[Stuart Couch]] refused to prosecute Slahi in a [[Guantánamo military commission|Military Commission]] in 2003. He said that "Salahi's incriminating statements—the core of the government's case—had been taken through [[torture]], rendering them inadmissible under U.S. and international law."<ref name="WSJ31Mar2007">{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117529704337355155 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=March 31, 2007 |title=The Conscience of the Colonel |last=Bravin |first=Jess |access-date=August 28, 2012}} [http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/07/wf040107.htm mirror]</ref>


In 2005, the internationally recognized criminal defense lawyer [[Nancy Hollander]] got involved in Slahi’s case, together with lawyer Theresa Duncan. They argued Slahi’s rights to a fair trial, despite criticism for defending a terrorist suspect.{{Cn|date=August 2022}} In 2010, Judge [[James Robertson (judge)|James Robertson]] granted a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'', ordering Slahi to be released on March 22. In his unclassified opinion, Judge Robertson wrote: "... associations alone are not enough, of course, to make detention lawful."<ref name="habeas opinion">{{cite court |litigants=Salahi v. Obama |vol=710 |reporter=F.Supp.2d |opinion=1 |court=D.D.C |date=2010 |url=https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2005cv0569-319}} [http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=in%20fdco%2020100409996.xml&docbase=cslwar3-2007-curr mirror].</ref>{{rp|29}} The Department of Justice appealed the decision.<ref name="Fisher">{{cite news |last=Fisher |first=William |url=http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2988 |title=Guantanamo Detainee Ordered Freed |work=Inter Press Service |date=April 12, 2010 |access-date=July 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720142118/http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2988 |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Pickler">{{cite news |last=Pickler |first=Nedra |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/politics/2012923857_apusguantanamoreleaseappeal.html |title=Appeals court: Once al-Qaida, always al-Qaida? |agency=Associated Press |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |date=September 17, 2010 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Hsu">{{cite news |last=Hsu |first=Spencer |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/17/AR2010091706657_pf.html |title=U.S. appeals court: How do you quit al-Qaeda? |newspaper=Washington Post |date=September 17, 2010 |access-date=September 29, 2010}}</ref> The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling and remanded the case to the District Court on November 5, 2010, for further factual findings.<ref name="dccir" />{{rp|3}}<ref name="rosenberg1">{{cite news |title=Appeals panel upends judge's order to release Guantánamo captive |url=http://e.standard.net/topics/terrorism/2010/11/05/appeals-panel-upends-judges-order-release-guantanamo-captive |last=Rosenberg |first=Carol |author-link=Carol Rosenberg |work=Standard.net |agency=McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |date=November 5, 2010 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-date=November 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119092008/http://e.standard.net/topics/terrorism/2010/11/05/appeals-panel-upends-judges-order-release-guantanamo-captive |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-betrayal-of-mohamedou-ould-slahi/ |last=Worthington |first=Andy |author-link=Andy Worthington |title=The Betrayal of Mohamedou Ould Salahi |date=September 27, 2010 |work=Future of Freedom Foundation |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref> The District Court never held the second habeas hearing.
In 2005, the internationally recognized criminal defense lawyer [[Nancy Hollander]] got involved in Slahi's case, together with lawyer Theresa Duncan. They argued Slahi's rights to a fair trial, despite criticism for defending a terrorist suspect.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} In 2010, Judge [[James Robertson (judge)|James Robertson]] granted a writ of ''[[habeas corpus]]'', ordering Slahi to be released on March 22. In his unclassified opinion, Judge Robertson wrote: "... associations alone are not enough, of course, to make detention lawful."<ref name="habeas opinion">{{cite court |litigants=Salahi v. Obama |vol=710 |reporter=F.Supp.2d |opinion=1 |court=D.D.C |date=2010 |url=https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2005cv0569-319}} [http://www.leagle.com/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=in%20fdco%2020100409996.xml&docbase=cslwar3-2007-curr mirror].</ref>{{rp|29}} The Department of Justice appealed the decision.<ref name="Fisher">{{cite news |last=Fisher |first=William |url=http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2988 |title=Guantanamo Detainee Ordered Freed |work=Inter Press Service |date=April 12, 2010 |access-date=July 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720142118/http://ipsnorthamerica.net/news.php?idnews=2988 |archive-date=July 20, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Pickler">{{cite news |last=Pickler |first=Nedra |url=http://seattletimes.com/html/politics/2012923857_apusguantanamoreleaseappeal.html |title=Appeals court: Once al-Qaida, always al-Qaida? |agency=Associated Press |work=[[The Seattle Times]] |date=September 17, 2010 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Hsu">{{cite news |last=Hsu |first=Spencer |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/17/AR2010091706657_pf.html |title=U.S. appeals court: How do you quit al-Qaeda? |newspaper=Washington Post |date=September 17, 2010 |access-date=September 29, 2010}}</ref> The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling and remanded the case to the District Court on November 5, 2010, for further factual findings.<ref name="dccir" />{{rp|3}}<ref name="rosenberg1">{{cite news |title=Appeals panel upends judge's order to release Guantánamo captive |url=http://e.standard.net/topics/terrorism/2010/11/05/appeals-panel-upends-judges-order-release-guantanamo-captive |last=Rosenberg |first=Carol |author-link=Carol Rosenberg |work=Standard.net |agency=McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |date=November 5, 2010 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-date=November 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119092008/http://e.standard.net/topics/terrorism/2010/11/05/appeals-panel-upends-judges-order-release-guantanamo-captive |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-betrayal-of-mohamedou-ould-slahi/ |last=Worthington |first=Andy |author-link=Andy Worthington |title=The Betrayal of Mohamedou Ould Salahi |date=September 27, 2010 |work=Future of Freedom Foundation |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref> The District Court never held the second habeas hearing.


On July 14, 2016, Slahi was approved by a [[Periodic Review Board]] for release from detention.<ref name=NYTimes2016-07-21>{{cite news|first=Charlie|last=Savage|title=Board Recommends Releasing Detainee Who Wrote 'Guantánamo Diary'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/board-recommends-releasing-detainee-who-wrote-guantanamo-diary.html|access-date=5 August 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 July 2016}}</ref> Slahi was freed and returned to Mauritania on October 17, 2016; he had been imprisoned at Guantánamo for over fourteen years.
On July 14, 2016, Slahi was approved by a [[Periodic Review Board]] for release from detention.<ref name=NYTimes2016-07-21>{{cite news|first=Charlie|last=Savage|title=Board Recommends Releasing Detainee Who Wrote 'Guantánamo Diary'|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/board-recommends-releasing-detainee-who-wrote-guantanamo-diary.html|access-date=5 August 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 July 2016}}</ref> Slahi was freed and returned to Mauritania on October 17, 2016; he had been imprisoned at Guantánamo for over fourteen years.


Slahi wrote a memoir in 2005 while imprisoned, which the U.S. government declassified in 2012 with numerous redactions. The memoir was published as ''[[Guantanamo Diary (memoir)|Guantánamo Diary]]'' in January 2015 and became an international bestseller.<ref name=TheGuardian2015-07-29/> Slahi is the first Guantánamo detainee to publish a memoir while imprisoned.<ref name=flood>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/12/guantanamo-prisoner-publish-memoirs-diary-mohamedou-ould-slahi | first=Allison | last=Flood | title=Guantánamo prisoner to publish 'harrowing' memoirs | work=Guardian | date=August 12, 2014 | access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref> Slahi wrote four other books while in detention, but he has not been allowed to access these books since being removed from Guantanamo.<ref name="NY">{{cite magazine|author=Ben Taub|author-link=Ben Taub |title=Guantánamo's Darkest Secret |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/22/guantanamos-darkest-secret |access-date=7 May 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=13 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
Slahi wrote a memoir in 2005 while imprisoned, which the U.S. government declassified in 2012 with numerous redactions. The memoir was published as ''[[Guantanamo Diary (memoir)|Guantánamo Diary]]'' in January 2015 and became an international bestseller.<ref name=TheGuardian2015-07-29/> Slahi is the first Guantánamo detainee to publish a memoir while imprisoned.<ref name=flood>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/12/guantanamo-prisoner-publish-memoirs-diary-mohamedou-ould-slahi | first=Allison | last=Flood | title=Guantánamo prisoner to publish 'harrowing' memoirs | work=Guardian | date=August 12, 2014 | access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref> Slahi wrote four other books while in detention, but he has not been allowed to access these books since being removed from Guantanamo.<ref name="NY">{{cite magazine |author=Ben Taub |author-link=Ben Taub (journalist) |date=13 April 2019 |title=Guantánamo's Darkest Secret |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/22/guantanamos-darkest-secret |access-date=7 May 2020 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en}}</ref>


==1988–1999==
==1988–1999==
Slahi was an exceptional student in high school in Mauritania. In 1988, he received a scholarship from the [[Carl Duisberg#Carl Duisberg Society|Carl Duisberg Society]] to study in [[West Germany]], where he earned an electrical engineering degree from the [[University of Duisburg-Essen|University of Duisburg]].<ref name=gitmofile>{{cite news | url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/obtained-under-torture-slahi-s-guantanamo-file-full-of-dubious-information-a-759729.html | title=Obtained Under Torture: Slahi's Guantanamo File Full of Dubious Information | work=Der Spiegel | last=Rosenbach | first=Marcel | date=April 29, 2011 | access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name=der /><ref name=16Jan2015-Cobain>{{cite news | title=Guantánamo diarist Mohamedou Ould Slahi: chronicler of fear, not despair | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/16/-sp-guantanamo-diary-mohamedou-ould-slahi | first=Ian | last=Cobain | work=The Guardian | date=January 16, 2015 | access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> In 1991, Slahi travelled to [[Afghanistan]] to join the [[Mujahideen]] fighting against the communist central government.<ref name=16Jan2015-Cobain /> The United States had supported the Mujahideen against the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet occupation]] starting in 1979, and [[Operation Cyclone|funnelled billions of dollars of weapons and aid]] to the "freedom fighters".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History|date=8 January 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199759255|page=219|chapter=Cold War (1945-1991): External Course}}</ref> After the [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviet withdrawal in 1989]], there was a civil war between [[Mohammad Najibullah]]'s government and the Mujahideen. Slahi trained for several weeks at the [[al Farouq training camp]] near [[Khost]], which was run by al Qaeda, one of many Mujahideen groups in the civil war.<ref name=vice>{{cite news|last1=Tinti|first1=Peter|title=A Postcard from Guantánamo: How Mohamedou Ould Slahi Became a Suspected Terrorist, Then a Best-Selling Author|url=https://www.vice.com/read/postcard-from-guantanamo-slahi-guantanamo-diary|access-date=March 16, 2016|work=Vice|date=February 26, 2015}}</ref> At the end of his training in March 1991, he swore ''bayat'' to al Qaeda and was given the ''[[Kunya (Arabic)#Kunya as a nom de guerre|kunya]]'' (nom de guerre) of "Abu Musab."<ref name=judgedemolished /><ref name=Finn /> However, he did not participate in the civil war, instead returning to Germany.
Slahi was an exceptional student in high school in Mauritania. In 1988, he received a scholarship from the [[Carl Duisberg#Carl Duisberg Society|Carl Duisberg Society]] to study in [[West Germany]], where he earned an electrical engineering degree from the [[University of Duisburg-Essen|University of Duisburg]].<ref name=gitmofile>{{cite news | url=http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/obtained-under-torture-slahi-s-guantanamo-file-full-of-dubious-information-a-759729.html | title=Obtained Under Torture: Slahi's Guantanamo File Full of Dubious Information | work=Der Spiegel | last=Rosenbach | first=Marcel | date=April 29, 2011 | access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name=der /><ref name=16Jan2015-Cobain>{{cite news | title=Guantánamo diarist Mohamedou Ould Slahi: chronicler of fear, not despair | url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/16/-sp-guantanamo-diary-mohamedou-ould-slahi | first=Ian | last=Cobain | work=The Guardian | date=January 16, 2015 | access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> In 1991, Slahi travelled to [[Afghanistan]] to join the [[Mujahideen]] fighting against the communist central government.<ref name=16Jan2015-Cobain /> The United States had supported the Mujahideen against the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Soviet occupation]] starting in 1979, and [[Operation Cyclone|funnelled billions of dollars of weapons and aid]] to the "freedom fighters".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Military and Diplomatic History|date=8 January 2013|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199759255|page=219|chapter=Cold War (1945–1991): External Course}}</ref> After the [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviet withdrawal in 1989]], there was a civil war between [[Mohammad Najibullah]]'s government and the Mujahideen. Slahi trained for several weeks at the [[al Farouq training camp]] near [[Khost]], which was run by al Qaeda, one of many Mujahideen groups in the civil war.<ref name=vice>{{cite news|last1=Tinti|first1=Peter|title=A Postcard from Guantánamo: How Mohamedou Ould Slahi Became a Suspected Terrorist, Then a Best-Selling Author|url=https://www.vice.com/read/postcard-from-guantanamo-slahi-guantanamo-diary|access-date=March 16, 2016|work=Vice|date=February 26, 2015}}</ref> At the end of his training in March 1991, he swore ''bayat'' to al Qaeda and was given the ''[[Kunya (Arabic)#Kunya as a nom de guerre|kunya]]'' (nom de guerre) of "Abu Musab."<ref name=judgedemolished /><ref name=Finn /> However, he did not participate in the civil war, instead returning to Germany.


In February 1992, Slahi travelled again to Afghanistan and was assigned to a mortar battery in [[Gardez]]. Six weeks later, the Najibullah regime fell and he returned to Germany.<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|12}} In hearings in Guantanamo, Slahi has stated that he travelled to Afghanistan twice, attended the al Farouq training camp, and fought against the Afghan central government in 1992, but that he was never an enemy combatant against the United States.<ref name=judgedemolished /><ref name=Pickler /><ref name=wsjcsrt />{{rp|2–4}}<ref name=wsjarb>{{cite news |url=https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/couch-slahiARB-03312007.pdf | title=Administrative Review Board Round One transcript |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=December 29, 2015}}</ref>{{rp|4–6}} In fact, he was fighting on the same side as the United States, which in 1992 supported the Mujahideen fight against the communist government in Afghanistan.<ref name=Pickler />
In February 1992, Slahi travelled again to Afghanistan and was assigned to a mortar battery in [[Gardez]]. Six weeks later, the Najibullah regime fell and he returned to Germany.<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|12}} In hearings in Guantanamo, Slahi has stated that he travelled to Afghanistan twice, attended the al Farouq training camp, and fought against the Afghan central government in 1992, but that he was never an enemy combatant against the United States.<ref name=judgedemolished /><ref name=Pickler /><ref name=wsjcsrt />{{rp|2–4}}<ref name=wsjarb>{{cite news |url=https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/couch-slahiARB-03312007.pdf | title=Administrative Review Board Round One transcript |work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] |access-date=December 29, 2015}}</ref>{{rp|4–6}} In fact, he was fighting on the same side as the United States, which in 1992 supported the Mujahideen fight against the communist government in Afghanistan.<ref name=Pickler />


Slahi's cousin and former brother-in-law is [[Mahfouz Ould al-Walid]], also known as Abu Hafs al-Mauritani. Before the [[September 11 attacks]] in the United States, Al-Walid was a spiritual adviser to [[Osama bin Laden]], was on the Shura council of al Qaeda, and headed the [[sharia]] council.<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|21}}<ref name=memrishort>{{cite web |title=Former Member Of Al-Qaeda Shura Council, Abu Hafs Al-Mauritani: 'I Advised The Americans… To Reach An Agreement With The Taliban' |url=http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6760.htm |work=Middle East Media Research Institute |date=October 19, 2012 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208212228/http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6760.htm |archive-date=February 8, 2013}}</ref> However, two months before the attacks, al-Walid, along with several other al Qaeda members, wrote a letter to bin Laden opposing the planned attacks.<ref name=ctc>{{cite web |title=Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa'ida from 1989-2006 |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cracks-in-the-foundation-leaderhip-schisms.pdf |page=18 |work=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |date=September 2007 |access-date=October 23, 2012}}</ref> Al-Walid left al Qaeda after the attacks.
Slahi's cousin and former brother-in-law is [[Mahfouz Ould al-Walid]], also known as Abu Hafs al-Mauritani. Before the [[September 11 attacks]] in the United States, Al-Walid was a spiritual adviser to [[Osama bin Laden]], was on the Shura council of al Qaeda, and headed the [[sharia]] council.<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|21}}<ref name=memrishort>{{cite web |title=Former Member Of Al-Qaeda Shura Council, Abu Hafs Al-Mauritani: 'I Advised The Americans… To Reach An Agreement With The Taliban' |url=http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6760.htm |work=Middle East Media Research Institute |date=October 19, 2012 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208212228/http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/6760.htm |archive-date=February 8, 2013}}</ref> Two months before the attacks, al-Walid, along with several other al Qaeda members, wrote a letter to bin Laden opposing the planned attacks.<ref name=ctc>{{cite web |title=Cracks in the Foundation: Leadership Schisms in al-Qa'ida from 1989-2006 |url=http://www.ctc.usma.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/cracks-in-the-foundation-leaderhip-schisms.pdf |page=18 |work=Combating Terrorism Center at West Point |date=September 2007 |access-date=October 23, 2012}}</ref> Al-Walid left al Qaeda after the attacks.


While al-Walid was in [[Sudan]], where al Qaeda was based in the mid-1990s, he twice asked Slahi to help him get money to his family in Mauritania, about $4,000 in December 1997 and another $4,000 in December 1998. In the 2010 ''[[habeas corpus]]'' opinion for Slahi, the judge wrote: "the government relies on nothing but Slahi's uncorroborated, coerced statements to conclude that the money transfers were done on behalf of and in support of al-Qa'ida."<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|26}} In 1998, Slahi was heard by U.S. intelligence talking to al-Walid on a [[satellite phone]] traced to bin Laden.<ref name=Finn /><ref name=wsjarb /><ref name=wall>{{cite news |title=On the Trail of Slahi |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117530458721355439 |first=Jess |last=Bravin |date=March 31, 2007 |access-date=August 28, 2012 }} [http://www.solami.com/ciaprisons.htm#Trail mirror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716102637/http://www.solami.com/ciaprisons.htm#Trail |date=2011-07-16 }}</ref><ref name=freeze />{{rp|12}}
While al-Walid was in [[Sudan]], where al Qaeda was based in the mid-1990s, he twice asked Slahi to help him get money to his family in Mauritania, about $4,000 in December 1997 and another $4,000 in December 1998. In the 2010 ''[[habeas corpus]]'' opinion for Slahi, the judge wrote: "the government relies on nothing but Slahi's uncorroborated, coerced statements to conclude that the money transfers were done on behalf of and in support of al-Qa'ida."<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|26}} In 1998, Slahi was heard by U.S. intelligence talking to al-Walid on a [[satellite phone]] traced to bin Laden.<ref name=Finn /><ref name=wsjarb /><ref name=wall>{{cite news |title=On the Trail of Slahi |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB117530458721355439 |first=Jess |last=Bravin |date=March 31, 2007 |access-date=August 28, 2012 }} [http://www.solami.com/ciaprisons.htm#Trail mirror] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716102637/http://www.solami.com/ciaprisons.htm#Trail |date=2011-07-16 }}</ref><ref name=freeze />{{rp|12}}


The [[9/11 Commission Report]], based on the interrogations of [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], claimed that in 1999, Slahi advised three members of the [[Hamburg Cell]] to travel to Afghanistan to obtain training before waging [[jihad]] in [[Chechnya]].<ref name="911commissionreport">{{Cite web |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch5.pdf |title=The 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 5 |author=9/11 Commission |author-link=9/11 Commission |date=July 22, 2004 |pages=165–166}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Notes.pdf |title=The 9/11 Commission Report, Notes |author=9/11 Commission |author-link=9/11 Commission |date=July 22, 2004 |page=496, notes 89 and 90}}</ref> However, the federal District Court in 2010 that reviewed Slahi's case found that Slahi "provided lodging for three men for one night at his home in Germany [in November 1999], that one of them was Ramzi bin al-Shibh and that there was discussion of jihad and Afghanistan."<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|19}} Besides Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mr. Slahi's other two houseguests were future September 11 hijackers. Slahi claims it was merely a matter of hospitality to fellow Muslims.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/politics/torture-post-9-11.html|title=The Legacy of America's Post-9/11 Turn to Torture|newspaper=The New York Times|date=12 September 2021|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Carol}}</ref>
The [[9/11 Commission Report]], based on the interrogations of [[Ramzi bin al-Shibh]], stated that in 1999, Slahi advised three members of the [[Hamburg Cell]] to travel to Afghanistan to obtain training before waging [[jihad]] in [[Chechnya]].<ref name="911commissionreport">{{Cite web |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Ch5.pdf |title=The 9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 5 |author=9/11 Commission |author-link=9/11 Commission |date=July 22, 2004 |pages=165–166}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/report/911Report_Notes.pdf |title=The 9/11 Commission Report, Notes |author=9/11 Commission |author-link=9/11 Commission |date=July 22, 2004 |page=496, notes 89 and 90}}</ref> The federal District Court in 2010 that reviewed Slahi's case found that Slahi "provided lodging for three men for one night at his home in Germany [in November 1999], that one of them was Ramzi bin al-Shibh and that there was discussion of jihad and Afghanistan."<ref name="habeas opinion" />{{rp|19}} Besides Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mr. Slahi's other two houseguests were future September 11 hijackers. Slahi claims it was merely a matter of hospitality to fellow Muslims.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/12/us/politics/torture-post-9-11.html|title=The Legacy of America's Post-9/11 Turn to Torture|newspaper=The New York Times|date=12 September 2021|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Carol}}</ref>


==1999–2002==
==1999–2002==
Slahi moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in November 1999 because German immigration authorities would not extend his visa for residence in Germany.<ref name=wsjcsrt>{{cite news |title=Combatant Status Review Tribunal transcript |url=https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/couch-slahihearing-03312007.pdf |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=January 27, 2011}}</ref> Since he was a ''[[Hafiz (Qur'an)|hafiz]],'' he was invited by the imam of a large mosque to lead [[Ramadan]] prayers.<ref name=wsjarb /><ref name=freeze>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tortuous-tale-of-guantanamo-captive/article597619/ |title=Tortuous tale of Guantanamo captive |last=Freeze |first=Colin |work=Globe and Mail |date=July 17, 2007 |access-date=August 12, 2014}} [http://www.canadaka.net/forums/international-politics-f2/guantanamo-captive-crying-a-river-t25998.html mirror]</ref> [[Ahmed Ressam]], who was caught with explosives crossing the Canada–US border in December 1999 as part of the [[2000 millennium attack plots#LAX bombing plot|2000 millennium attack plot]], had attended the same mosque.<ref name=Finn /> Since Slahi was known to U.S. intelligence through contact with his cousin Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, he was suspected by them of activating Ressam.<ref name=wall />
Slahi moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in November 1999 because German immigration authorities would not extend his visa for residence in Germany.<ref name=wsjcsrt>{{cite news |title=Combatant Status Review Tribunal transcript |url=https://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/couch-slahihearing-03312007.pdf |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=January 27, 2011}}</ref> Since he was a ''[[Hafiz (Qur'an)|hafiz]],'' he was invited by the imam of a large mosque to lead [[Ramadan]] prayers.<ref name=wsjarb /><ref name=freeze>{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/tortuous-tale-of-guantanamo-captive/article597619/ |title=Tortuous tale of Guantanamo captive |last=Freeze |first=Colin |work=Globe and Mail |date=July 17, 2007 |access-date=August 12, 2014}} [http://www.canadaka.net/forums/international-politics-f2/guantanamo-captive-crying-a-river-t25998.html mirror]</ref> [[Ahmed Ressam]], who was caught with explosives crossing the Canada–U.S. border in December 1999 as part of the [[2000 millennium attack plots#LAX bombing plot|2000 millennium attack plot]], had attended the same mosque.<ref name=Finn /> Since Slahi was known to U.S. intelligence through contact with his cousin Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, he was suspected by them of activating Ressam.<ref name=wall />


The [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS) put Slahi under surveillance for several weeks but did not find any grounds to arrest him.<ref name=wall /><ref name=CSIS>{{cite news |work=CBC News |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/csis-watched-terrorist-suspect-in-1999-1.276853 |title=CSIS watched terrorist suspect in 1999 |date=October 3, 2001 |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> According to a classified report of German intelligence, "there is not only no evidence of any involvement by Ould Slahi in the planning and preparation of the attacks, but also no indication that Ressam and Slahi knew each other."<ref name=der />
The [[Canadian Security Intelligence Service]] (CSIS) put Slahi under surveillance for several weeks but did not find any grounds to arrest him.<ref name=wall /><ref name=CSIS>{{cite news |work=CBC News |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/csis-watched-terrorist-suspect-in-1999-1.276853 |title=CSIS watched terrorist suspect in 1999 |date=October 3, 2001 |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> According to a classified report of German intelligence, "there is not only no evidence of any involvement by Ould Slahi in the planning and preparation of the attacks, but also no indication that Ressam and Slahi knew each other."<ref name=der />


Frustrated by Canada's refusal to arrest him, the CIA worked with Mauritanian intelligence to lure Slahi back by forcing his mother to call him under the false premise that Canada was going to arrest him and he had to return back to Mauritania to be protected.<ref name=JordanPetersonInterview>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMj_u5fQH4 |title=Enhanced Interrogation Techniques Mohamedou Ould Slahi EP 195 |date=June 7, 2021 |work=Jordan Peterson |access-date=November 15, 2010}}</ref> Slahi left Canada on January 21, 2000, where he was arrested in [[Senegal]] at the request of United States authorities and questioned about the millennium plot.<ref name=johnston>{{cite news |last=Johnston |first=David |title=Terror Suspect Is Rearrested In Africa at U.S. Request|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/29/world/terror-suspect-is-rearrested-in-africa-at-us-request.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 29, 2000 |access-date=January 26, 2011}}</ref> He was transferred to Mauritania to be interrogated by local authorities and United States [[FBI]] agents.<ref name=CSIS /> After three weeks in custody, during which Slahi was accused of being involved in the millennium plot, he was released.<ref name=wall />
Frustrated by Canada's refusal to arrest him, the CIA worked with Mauritanian intelligence to lure Slahi back by forcing his mother to call him under the false premise that Canada was going to arrest him and he had to return to Mauritania to be protected.<ref name=JordanPetersonInterview>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxMj_u5fQH4 |title=Enhanced Interrogation Techniques Mohamedou Ould Slahi EP 195 |date=June 7, 2021 |work=Jordan Peterson |access-date=November 15, 2010}}</ref> Slahi left Canada on January 21, 2000, where he was arrested in [[Senegal]] at the request of United States authorities and questioned about the millennium plot.<ref name=johnston>{{cite news |last=Johnston |first=David |title=Terror Suspect Is Rearrested In Africa at U.S. Request|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/29/world/terror-suspect-is-rearrested-in-africa-at-us-request.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 29, 2000 |access-date=January 26, 2011}}</ref> He was transferred to Mauritania to be interrogated by local authorities and United States [[FBI]] agents.<ref name=CSIS /> After three weeks in custody, during which Slahi was accused of being involved in the millennium plot, he was released.<ref name=wall />


Slahi worked at various companies in Mauritania as an electrical engineer starting in May 2000.<ref name="habeas opinion" /><ref name=wsjcsrt /><ref name=BBC29Sept2001>{{cite news|last=Roger|first=Olivier|title=Mauritanian arrested in connection with Bin-Ladin's network|date=September 29, 2001|agency=Radio France Internationale|location=Mauritania |via=ProQuest: 82368037}}</ref> After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. renewed scrutiny of everyone suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. On September 29, he was again detained by the Mauritanian authorities for questioning.<ref name=CSIS /> He cooperated with the authorities several more times and then for the last time starting on November 20, 2001.<ref name=der /><ref name=wall /> Slahi was interrogated by both Mauritanian officials and the FBI for seven days.
Slahi worked at various companies in Mauritania as an electrical engineer starting in May 2000.<ref name="habeas opinion" /><ref name=wsjcsrt /><ref name=BBC29Sept2001>{{cite news|last=Roger|first=Olivier|title=Mauritanian arrested in connection with Bin-Ladin's network|date=September 29, 2001|agency=Radio France Internationale|location=Mauritania |via=ProQuest: 82368037}}</ref> After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. renewed scrutiny of everyone suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. On September 29, he was again detained by the Mauritanian authorities for questioning.<ref name=CSIS /> He cooperated with the authorities several more times and then for the last time starting on November 20, 2001.<ref name=der /><ref name=wall /> Slahi was interrogated by both Mauritanian officials and the FBI for seven days.
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In February 2015, a series in ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported that one of his interrogators was [[Richard Zuley]], a career homicide detective with the [[Chicago Police Department]], who was called in on assignment with the [[United States Navy Reserve]]. In Chicago, Zuley has been the subject of civil suits by inmates attributing similar abuse, including shackling, threats and coerced confessions.<ref name="ackerman2015">[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/18/guantanamo-torture-chicago-police-brutality Guantánamo torturer led brutal Chicago regime of shackling and confession], ''The Guardian,'' 18 February 2015; 15 January 2017</ref>
In February 2015, a series in ''[[The Guardian]]'' reported that one of his interrogators was [[Richard Zuley]], a career homicide detective with the [[Chicago Police Department]], who was called in on assignment with the [[United States Navy Reserve]]. In Chicago, Zuley has been the subject of civil suits by inmates attributing similar abuse, including shackling, threats and coerced confessions.<ref name="ackerman2015">[https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/18/guantanamo-torture-chicago-police-brutality Guantánamo torturer led brutal Chicago regime of shackling and confession], ''The Guardian,'' 18 February 2015; 15 January 2017</ref>


In September 2003, Slahi was moved to Camp Echo.<ref name=Finn /> Memos summarizing meetings held on October 9, 2003 and February 2, 2004 between General [[Geoffrey Miller (general)|Geoffrey Miller]] and Vincent Cassard of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Slahi, due to "military necessity."<ref name=Memo031009>
In September 2003, Slahi was moved to Camp Echo.<ref name=Finn /> Memos summarizing meetings held on October 9, 2003, and February 2, 2004, between General [[Geoffrey Miller (general)|Geoffrey Miller]] and Vincent Cassard of the [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Slahi, due to "military necessity."<ref name=Memo031009>
{{cite news
{{cite news
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/GitmoMemo10-09-03.pdf
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/GitmoMemo10-09-03.pdf
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}}</ref> In the letter, Slahi said all his confessions of crimes were the result of torture. He laughed at being asked to recount "everything" that he had said during interrogations, joking that it was "like asking [[Charlie Sheen]] how many women he dated."<ref name=WSJSlahiLetter />
}}</ref> In the letter, Slahi said all his confessions of crimes were the result of torture. He laughed at being asked to recount "everything" that he had said during interrogations, joking that it was "like asking [[Charlie Sheen]] how many women he dated."<ref name=WSJSlahiLetter />


In 2005, the internationally recognized criminal defense lawyer [[Nancy Hollander]] got involved in Slahi's case, together with lawyer Theresa Duncan. They argued Slahi's rights to a fair trial, despite criticism for defending a terrorist suspect.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
According to Peter Finn of ''The Washington Post'' in 2010, Slahi, along with [[Tariq al-Sawah]], were "two of the most significant informants ever to be held at Guantanamo. Today, they are housed in a little fenced-in compound at the military prison, where they live a life of relative privilege – gardening, writing and painting – separated from other detainees in a cocoon designed to reward and protect."<ref name=Finn>
{{ cite news
| title = For two detainees who told what they knew, Guantanamo becomes a gilded cage
| last = Finn
| first = Peter
| newspaper = The Washington Post
| date = March 24, 2010
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032403135_pf.html
| access-date = September 28, 2010
}}</ref>

Slahi started writing a memoir of his experiences in 2005, continuing into the next year. The more than 400-page manuscript was declassified by government censors in 2012 after numerous redactions. Excerpts were published by ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' magazine as a three-part series beginning April 30, 2013. It was published as a book, ''Guantánamo Diary,'' in January 2015.<ref name=flood /> ==''Guantánamo Diary''==

The 466-page manuscript was in English, a language Slahi learned at Guantánamo.<ref name=flood /> After litigation and negotiation, the US government declassified the memoir six years later, making numerous [[Sanitization (classified information)|redactions]]. <ref name=slahi>{{cite news | url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/04/mohamedou_ould_slahi_s_guantanamo_memoirs_part_1_the_endless_interrogations.html | first=Mohamedou | last=Slahi | title=Guantánamo Memoirs: Part One | work=Slate | date=April 30, 2013 | access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref> On May 1, 2013, ''Slate'' also published a related interview with Col. [[Morris Davis]], the military's chief prosecutor at Guantánamo from September 2005 to October 2007.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/04/mohamedou_ould_slahi_s_guant_namo_memoirs_an_interview_with_colonel_morris.html | first=Larry | last=Siems | title=He Reminded Me of Forrest Gump | work=Slate | date=May 1, 2013 | access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref>


===Guantánamo Diary===
The book, ''[[Guantanamo Diary (memoir)|Guantánamo Diary]]'', was published in January 2015. It is the first work by a still-imprisoned detainee at Guantánamo. It provides details of Slahi's harsh interrogations and torture,<ref name=flood /> including being "force-fed seawater, sexually molested, subjected to a mock execution and repeatedly beaten, kicked and smashed across the face, all spiced with threats that his mother will be brought to Guantánamo and gang-raped."<ref>{{cite news|title=Blame game: After years of legal wrangling, Mohamedou Ould Slahi's prison diary finally comes out. A sad and sickening read|url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21641132-after-years-legal-wrangling-mohamedou-ould-slahis-prison-diary-finally-comes-out|access-date=7 February 2015|newspaper=The Economist|date=31 Jan 2015}}</ref> It has become an international bestseller. Prison officials prevented Slahi from receiving a copy of his published book.
{{main|Guantánamo Diary (memoir)}}
Slahi started writing a memoir of his experiences in 2005, continuing into the next year. The 466-page manuscript was in English, a language Slahi learned at Guantánamo.<ref name=flood /> After litigation and negotiation, the US government declassified the memoir in 2012, making numerous [[Sanitization (classified information)|redactions]].<ref name=slahi>{{cite news | url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/04/mohamedou_ould_slahi_s_guantanamo_memoirs_part_1_the_endless_interrogations.html | first=Mohamedou | last=Slahi | title=Guantánamo Memoirs: Part One | work=Slate | date=April 30, 2013 | access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref> Excerpts were published by ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'' magazine as a three-part series beginning April 30, 2013. On May 1, 2013, ''Slate'' also published a related interview with Col. [[Morris Davis]], the military's chief prosecutor at Guantánamo from September 2005 to October 2007.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/foreigners/2013/04/mohamedou_ould_slahi_s_guant_namo_memoirs_an_interview_with_colonel_morris.html | first=Larry | last=Siems | title=He Reminded Me of Forrest Gump | work=Slate | date=May 1, 2013 | access-date=January 17, 2015}}</ref> ''Guantánamo Diary'' was published as a book in January 2015,<ref name=flood /> the first work by a still-imprisoned detainee at Guantánamo. It provides details of Slahi's harsh interrogations and torture,<ref name=flood /> including being "force-fed seawater, sexually molested, subjected to a mock execution and repeatedly beaten, kicked and smashed across the face, all spiced with threats that his mother will be brought to Guantánamo and gang-raped."<ref>{{cite news|title=Blame game: After years of legal wrangling, Mohamedou Ould Slahi's prison diary finally comes out. A sad and sickening read|url=https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21641132-after-years-legal-wrangling-mohamedou-ould-slahis-prison-diary-finally-comes-out|access-date=7 February 2015|newspaper=The Economist|date=31 Jan 2015}}</ref> It has become an international bestseller. Prison officials prevented Slahi from receiving a copy of his published book.


===Joint Review Task Force===
===Joint Review Task Force===
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}}
}}
</ref>
</ref>
In its 2010 report, the [[Guantánamo Review Task Force]] recommended Salahi be considered for prosecution in a military commission.<ref name=2010review>{{cite news|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Carol|title=U.S. repatriates long-cleared Guantánamo detainee to Africa|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article41783445.html|access-date=March 17, 2016|work=Miami Herald|date=October 29, 2015}}</ref> The task force recommended that detainees deemed too dangerous to release, but without sufficient evidence for prosecution, receive a [[Periodic Review Board]] hearing. In 2013, Slahi was listed as one of 71 detainees eligible for a review.<ref name=Unchargeable71>
In its 2010 report, the [[Guantánamo Review Task Force]] recommended Slahi be considered for prosecution in a military commission.<ref name=2010review>{{cite news|last1=Rosenberg|first1=Carol|title=U.S. repatriates long-cleared Guantánamo detainee to Africa|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article41783445.html|access-date=March 17, 2016|work=Miami Herald|date=October 29, 2015}}</ref> The task force recommended that detainees deemed too dangerous to release, but without sufficient evidence for prosecution, receive a [[Periodic Review Board]] hearing. In 2013, Slahi was listed as one of 71 detainees eligible for a review.<ref name=Unchargeable71>
{{cite news
{{cite news
|url = https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1020057-guantanamo-parole-list.html
|url = https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1020057-guantanamo-parole-list.html
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===Further interrogation request===
===Further interrogation request===
[[US District Court Judge]] [[James Robertson (judge)|James Robertson]] had issued an order to the Department of Defense barring them from interrogating Slahi while his habeas corpus case was under consideration. Guantánamo authorities in October 2014 seized all of Slahi's privileged legal papers and all his personal belongings, including a computer.<ref name=MiamiHerald2015-06-10/> They also stripped Slahi of his "[[comfort items]]," including letters from his late mother, in an attempt to force him to agree to interrogations.<ref name=TheGuardian2015-07-29/> Slahi wrote in an unclassified letter to his attorneys in April 2015 that officials had offered to return these items if he agreed to interrogations, which had been barred for six years. Prosecutors in the case of [[Ahmed al-Darbi]] wanted to interrogate Slahi about him.<ref name=TheGuardian2015-07-29/>
[[US District Court Judge|U.S. district court]] [[James Robertson (judge)|James Robertson]] had issued an order to the Department of Defense barring them from interrogating Slahi while his habeas corpus case was under consideration. Guantánamo authorities in October 2014 seized all of Slahi's privileged legal papers and all his personal belongings, including a computer.<ref name=MiamiHerald2015-06-10/> They also stripped Slahi of his "[[comfort items]]," including letters from his late mother, in an attempt to force him to agree to interrogations.<ref name=TheGuardian2015-07-29/> Slahi wrote in an unclassified letter to his attorneys in April 2015 that officials had offered to return these items if he agreed to interrogations, which had been barred for six years. Prosecutors in the case of [[Ahmed al-Darbi]] wanted to interrogate Slahi about him.<ref name=TheGuardian2015-07-29/>


==Torture==
===Torture===
Slahi was last interrogated by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] on May 22, 2003. He claimed an FBI interrogator warned him "this was our last session; he told me that I was not going to enjoy the time to come."<ref name=WSJ31Mar2007 /> Three months later Defense Secretary Rumsfeld approved the use of "[[enhanced interrogation techniques]]". Slahi was subjected to isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation by military interrogators. In one incident, he was blindfolded and taken out to sea for a [[mock execution]].<ref name=gitmofile /><ref name=WSJ31Mar2007 />
Slahi was last interrogated by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] on May 22, 2003. He claimed an FBI interrogator warned him "this was our last session; he told me that I was not going to enjoy the time to come."<ref name=WSJ31Mar2007 /> Three months later Defense Secretary Rumsfeld approved the use of "[[enhanced interrogation techniques]]". Slahi was subjected to isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation by military interrogators. In one incident, he was blindfolded and taken out to sea for a [[mock execution]].<ref name=gitmofile /><ref name=WSJ31Mar2007 />


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What was not revealed until 2008 was that in a March 14, 2003, legal opinion memo issued by [[John Yoo]] of the [[Office of Legal Counsel]], [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]], to the [[General Counsel]] of the Department of Defense, Yoo advised that federal laws related to torture and other abuses did not apply to interrogations overseas.<ref name="Haynes"/> At that point the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]] contended that Guantanamo Bay was outside US jurisdiction. The Defense Department used this memo to authorize the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" at Guantanamo and in Iraq.<ref name="Haynes">{{cite news |title=Justice: Torture Memo Fallout |url=http://www.newsweek.com/justice-torture-memo-fallout-85899 |first=Michael |last=Isikoff |work=Newsweek |date=April 4, 2008 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Rosen">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/magazine/09rosen.html |first=Jeffrey |last=Rosen |title=Conscience of a Conservative |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 9, 2007 |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> Also, by 2005, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that by an April 2003 memo from Rumsfeld to General [[James T. Hill]], commander of [[United States Southern Command]], responsible for Guantanamo Bay, Rumsfeld authorized 24 specific permitted interrogation techniques to be used.<ref name="NYT5torture">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/ref/international/24MEMO-GUIDE.html | title=A Guide to the Memos on Torture | newspaper=The New York Times | date=2005 | access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> [[Jack Goldsmith]], head of the Office of Legal Counsel, withdrew the Yoo [[Torture Memos]] in June 2004 and advised federal agencies not to rely on them.<ref name="Rosen"/>
What was not revealed until 2008 was that in a March 14, 2003, legal opinion memo issued by [[John Yoo]] of the [[Office of Legal Counsel]], [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]], to the [[General Counsel]] of the Department of Defense, Yoo advised that federal laws related to torture and other abuses did not apply to interrogations overseas.<ref name="Haynes"/> At that point the [[Presidency of George W. Bush|Bush administration]] contended that Guantanamo Bay was outside US jurisdiction. The Defense Department used this memo to authorize the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" at Guantanamo and in Iraq.<ref name="Haynes">{{cite news |title=Justice: Torture Memo Fallout |url=http://www.newsweek.com/justice-torture-memo-fallout-85899 |first=Michael |last=Isikoff |work=Newsweek |date=April 4, 2008 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref><ref name="Rosen">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/magazine/09rosen.html |first=Jeffrey |last=Rosen |title=Conscience of a Conservative |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 9, 2007 |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> Also, by 2005, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that by an April 2003 memo from Rumsfeld to General [[James T. Hill]], commander of [[United States Southern Command]], responsible for Guantanamo Bay, Rumsfeld authorized 24 specific permitted interrogation techniques to be used.<ref name="NYT5torture">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/ref/international/24MEMO-GUIDE.html | title=A Guide to the Memos on Torture | newspaper=The New York Times | date=2005 | access-date=January 16, 2015}}</ref> [[Jack Goldsmith]], head of the Office of Legal Counsel, withdrew the Yoo [[Torture Memos]] in June 2004 and advised federal agencies not to rely on them.<ref name="Rosen"/>


Slahi's lawyers in 2008 threatened to sue Mauritanian, Jordanian and US officials over his torture.<ref name=Reuters20080310>{{Cite news | url=http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-32404120080310 | title=Mauritanian was tortured in Guantanamo - lawyers | work=Reuters | last=Champagne | first=Noiselle
Slahi's lawyers in 2008 threatened to sue Mauritanian, Jordanian and U.S. officials over his torture.<ref name=Reuters20080310>{{Cite news | url=http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-32404120080310 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174822/http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-32404120080310 | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 3, 2016 | title=Mauritanian was tortured in Guantanamo - lawyers | work=Reuters | last=Champagne | first=Noiselle
| date=March 10, 2008 | access-date=August 14, 2010}}</ref>
| date=March 10, 2008 | access-date=August 14, 2010}}</ref>


The [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services]] produced a report titled ''Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody'' on November 20, 2008.<ref>{{cite web |author1=United States Senate Committee on Armed Services |title=Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody |url=https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Detainee-Report-Final_April-22-2009.pdf |access-date=30 September 2020 |date=20 November 2008}}</ref> It contains information about the treatment of Slahi and others at Guantanamo before 2005.<ref name=16Jan2015-Cobain />
The [[United States Senate Committee on Armed Services]] produced a report titled ''Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody'' on November 20, 2008.<ref>{{cite web |author1=United States Senate Committee on Armed Services |title=Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody |url=https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Detainee-Report-Final_April-22-2009.pdf |access-date=30 September 2020 |date=20 November 2008}}</ref> It contains information about the treatment of Slahi and others at Guantanamo before 2005.<ref name=16Jan2015-Cobain />

According to Peter Finn of ''The Washington Post'' in 2010, Slahi, along with [[Tariq al-Sawah]], were "two of the most significant informants ever to be held at Guantanamo. Today, they are housed in a little fenced-in compound at the military prison, where they live a life of relative privilege – gardening, writing and painting – separated from other detainees in a cocoon designed to reward and protect."<ref name=Finn>
{{ cite news
| title = For two detainees who told what they knew, Guantanamo becomes a gilded cage
| last = Finn
| first = Peter
| newspaper = The Washington Post
| date = March 24, 2010
| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032403135_pf.html
| access-date = September 28, 2010
}}</ref>


===Habeas corpus proceedings===
===Habeas corpus proceedings===
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===Release order===
===Release order===
After review of the case, US District Court [[Judge James Robertson]] granted the writ of ''habeas corpus'' and ordered Slahi's release on March 22, 2010.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE62M0D520100323 | title=U.S. judge orders release of Guantanamo detainee | work=Reuters (U.K.) | date=March 23, 2010 | last=Pelofsky | first=Jeremy | access-date=July 3, 2010}}</ref> Robertson's ruling was criticized by several [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] politicians.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://thehill.com/homenews/house/88853-gops-denounce-release-of-terror-suspect | title=GOP denounces terror suspect release | work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] | date=March 24, 2010 | last=Crabtree | first=Susan | access-date=July 8, 2010}}</ref> Slahi was the 34th detainee whose release was ordered by a federal district court judge reviewing government materials associated with his habeas petition.<ref name="rosenberg">{{cite news | last=Rosenberg | first=Carol | author-link=Carol Rosenberg | url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/22/1551648/judge-orders-detainee-abused-at.html | title=Judge orders release of detainee abused at Guantánamo | work=Miami Herald |date=March 3, 2010 | access-date=July 9, 2010}}</ref> The unclassified decision was filed on April 9, 2010.<ref name=Fisher />
After review of the case, U.S. District Court [[Judge James Robertson]] granted the writ of ''habeas corpus'' and ordered Slahi's release on March 22, 2010.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE62M0D520100323 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130201133224/http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE62M0D520100323 | url-status=dead | archive-date=February 1, 2013 | title=U.S. judge orders release of Guantanamo detainee | work=Reuters (U.K.) | date=March 23, 2010 | last=Pelofsky | first=Jeremy | access-date=July 3, 2010}}</ref> Robertson's ruling was criticized by several [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] politicians.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://thehill.com/homenews/house/65115-gop-denounces-terror-suspect-release/ | title=GOP denounces terror suspect release | work=[[The Hill (newspaper)|The Hill]] | date=March 24, 2010 | last=Crabtree | first=Susan | access-date=July 8, 2010}}</ref> Slahi was the 34th detainee whose release was ordered by a federal district court judge reviewing government materials associated with his habeas petition.<ref name="rosenberg">{{cite news | last=Rosenberg | first=Carol | author-link=Carol Rosenberg | url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/22/1551648/judge-orders-detainee-abused-at.html | title=Judge orders release of detainee abused at Guantánamo | work=Miami Herald |date=March 3, 2010 | access-date=July 9, 2010}}</ref> The unclassified decision was filed on April 9, 2010.<ref name=Fisher />


Referring to the government's charge that Slahi gave "purposeful and material support" to al Qaeda, Judge Robertson wrote:
Referring to the government's charge that Slahi gave "purposeful and material support" to al Qaeda, Judge Robertson wrote:
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The Department of Justice appealed the decision.<ref name=Fisher /> Oral arguments were heard on September 17, 2010, by a three-judge panel for the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]]. In oral arguments, Judge [[David S. Tatel]] questioned whether swearing ''bayat'' in 1991 is evidence of actions a decade and more later against the United States. He noted, "When he swore bayat, the United States and al-Qaeda had a common goal. Both the United States and al-Qaeda were opposing a communist government of Afghanistan."<ref name=Pickler /> The panel discussed sending the case back to the District Court or over-ruling the decision, based on other recent D.C. Circuit rulings on the criteria that justify detention, which were still being developed.<ref name=Hsu />
The Department of Justice appealed the decision.<ref name=Fisher /> Oral arguments were heard on September 17, 2010, by a three-judge panel for the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]]. In oral arguments, Judge [[David S. Tatel]] questioned whether swearing ''bayat'' in 1991 is evidence of actions a decade and more later against the United States. He noted, "When he swore bayat, the United States and al-Qaeda had a common goal. Both the United States and al-Qaeda were opposing a communist government of Afghanistan."<ref name=Pickler /> The panel discussed sending the case back to the District Court or over-ruling the decision, based on other recent D.C. Circuit rulings on the criteria that justify detention, which were still being developed.<ref name=Hsu />


On November 5, 2010, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the decision and remanded the case to the D.C. District Court for further factual findings, based on guidance it had given to the D.C. District Court about review of such habeas corpus cases of detainees.<ref name=rosenberg1 /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wittes |first1=Benjamin |author-link1=Benjamin Wittes |title=Comments on Salahi |url=https://www.lawfareblog.com/comments-salahi |website=Lawfare |access-date=29 September 2020 |language=en |date=5 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="lyle">
On November 5, 2010, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the decision and remanded the case to the D.C. District Court for further factual findings, based on guidance it had given to the D.C. District Court about review of such habeas corpus cases of detainees.<ref name=rosenberg1 /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Wittes |first1=Benjamin |author-link1=Benjamin Wittes |title=Comments on Salahi |url=https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/comments-salahi |website=Lawfare |access-date=29 September 2020 |language=en |date=5 November 2010}}</ref><ref name="lyle">
{{cite web
{{cite web
| last = Denniston
| last = Denniston
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The District Court never held any hearings after the Court of Appeals decision.
The District Court never held any hearings after the Court of Appeals decision.


Slahi had his first Periodic Review Board review on June 2, 2016.<ref name=intercept /> A month later, the board recommended that Slahi be released.<ref name=NYTimes2016-07-21 />
===Release and life after detention===

Slahi had his first Periodic Review Board review on June 2, 2016.<ref name=intercept /> A month later, the board recommended that Slahi be released.<ref name=NYTimes2016-07-21 /> On October 17, 2016, Slahi was freed and returned to Mauritania, after being detained without charge for over 14 years.<ref name=Guardian2016-10-17 />
==Life after detention==
On October 17, 2016, Slahi was freed and returned to Mauritania, after being detained without charge for over 14 years.<ref name=Guardian2016-10-17 />


In 2017, ''[[CBS News]]'' journalist [[Holly Williams (journalist)|Holly Williams]] traveled to Mauritania to interview Slahi.<ref name=Cbs2017-03-10/>
In 2017, ''[[CBS News]]'' journalist [[Holly Williams (journalist)|Holly Williams]] traveled to Mauritania to interview Slahi.<ref name=Cbs2017-03-10/>
''CBS News''{{'}} flagship news show, ''[[60 Minutes]]'', broadcast the story on March 12, 2017. ''CBS News'' described it as Slahi's first television interview since his repatriation. In this interview Mohamedou said he "wholeheartedly [forgives] everyone who wronged [him] during [his] detention." Slahi filed in April 2022 a legal claim against the Canadian government on the grounds that "faulty intelligence provided by Canadian authorities contributed to his detention" in 2002, seeking $35 million in compensation.<ref> The Canadian Press, 23 April 2022, ''Ottawa Citizen'', https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ex-guantanamo-detainee-sues-canada-over-14-year-detention-and-torture </ref>
''CBS News''{{'}} flagship news show, ''[[60 Minutes]]'', broadcast the story on March 12, 2017. ''CBS News'' described it as Slahi's first television interview since his repatriation. In this interview Mohamedou said he "wholeheartedly [forgives] everyone who wronged [him] during [his] detention." Slahi filed in April 2022 a legal claim against the Canadian government on the grounds that "faulty intelligence provided by Canadian authorities contributed to his detention" in 2002, seeking $35 million in compensation.<ref>The Canadian Press, 23 April 2022, ''Ottawa Citizen'', https://ottawacitizen.com/news/ex-guantanamo-detainee-sues-canada-over-14-year-detention-and-torture</ref>


In May 2018, Slahi's former guard at Guantanamo, Steve Wood, visited him in [[Mauritania]] during [[Ramadan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/08/12/637932193/a-guantanamo-guard-and-a-detainee-reunite-in-mauritania|title=A Guantanamo Guard And His Detainee Reunite|work=NPR|language=en|access-date=2019-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=An unlikely friendship in Guantanamo Bay |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz37q |access-date=7 September 2019 |series=Outlook |work=BBC |date=24 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Me, Guantanamo Bay, and a new friend |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz37p |access-date=7 September 2019 |series=Outlook |work=BBC |date=17 August 2019}}</ref>
In May 2018, Slahi's former guard at Guantanamo, Steve Wood, visited him in [[Mauritania]] during [[Ramadan]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/08/12/637932193/a-guantanamo-guard-and-a-detainee-reunite-in-mauritania|title=A Guantanamo Guard And His Detainee Reunite|work=NPR|language=en|access-date=2019-03-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=An unlikely friendship in Guantanamo Bay |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz37q |access-date=7 September 2019 |series=Outlook |work=BBC |date=24 August 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Me, Guantanamo Bay, and a new friend |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3csz37p |access-date=7 September 2019 |series=Outlook |work=BBC |date=17 August 2019}}</ref>
It was covered in the 2020 documentary short film ''My Brother's Keeper''.<ref name="Topham">{{cite journal |last1=Topham |first1=Laurence |title=Guantánamo, torture and friendship: how we made My Brother's Keeper |journal=The Guardian |date=1 March 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2021/mar/01/how-we-made-my-brothers-keeper-documentary |language=en|access-date=2022-11-12}}</ref>
It was covered in the 2020 documentary short film ''My Brother's Keeper''.<ref name="Topham">{{cite journal |last1=Topham |first1=Laurence |title=Guantánamo, torture and friendship: how we made My Brother's Keeper |journal=The Guardian |date=1 March 2021 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/membership/2021/mar/01/how-we-made-my-brothers-keeper-documentary |language=en|access-date=2022-11-12}}</ref>


On January 29, 2021 the ''[[New York Review of Books]]'' published an open letter from Slahi, and six other individuals who were formerly held in Guantanamo, to newly inaugurated [[POTUS|President]] [[Joe Biden|Biden]], appealing to him to close the detention camp.<ref name=NYReviewBooks2021-01-29/>
On January 29, 2021, the ''[[New York Review of Books]]'' published an open letter from Slahi, and six other individuals who were formerly held in Guantanamo, to newly inaugurated [[POTUS|President]] [[Joe Biden|Biden]], appealing to him to close the detention camp.<ref name=NYReviewBooks2021-01-29/>


In February 2021, a film adaption of his memoir titled ''[[The Mauritanian]]'' directed by [[Kevin Macdonald (director)|Kevin Macdonald]], and starring [[Jodie Foster]], [[Tahar Rahim]], [[Benedict Cumberbatch]], and [[Shailene Woodley]] was released.<ref name=susk>{{cite news|author=Susanne Koelbl|title=The Story of Prisoner No. 760 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/prisoner-760-wrongly-detained-at-guantanamo-for-14-years-a-ede07fee-0867-4810-a507-6219866fb75e|access-date=6 November 2020|work=Der Spiegel|date=10 June 2020}}</ref>
In February 2021, a film adaption of his memoir titled ''[[The Mauritanian]]'' directed by [[Kevin Macdonald (director)|Kevin Macdonald]], and starring [[Jodie Foster]], [[Tahar Rahim]], [[Benedict Cumberbatch]], and [[Shailene Woodley]] was released.<ref name=susk>{{cite news|author=Susanne Koelbl|title=The Story of Prisoner No. 760 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/prisoner-760-wrongly-detained-at-guantanamo-for-14-years-a-ede07fee-0867-4810-a507-6219866fb75e|access-date=6 November 2020|work=Der Spiegel|date=10 June 2020}}</ref>


==Personal life==
==Personal life==
As of 2019 Slahi's passport had not been returned to him as was promised during his release. He was not able to leave Mauritania to treat his health condition or see his newborn son in Germany.<ref name="Middle East Eye">{{cite news |last1=Thomas-Johnson |first1=Amandla |title='I'm being punished': Guantanamo's 'most tortured detainee' still can't leave Mauritania |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/guantanamo-bay-prison-torture-us-mohamedou-salahi |access-date=7 September 2019 |work=Middle East Eye |date=22 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> After his academic graduation in Germany in 1999 Salahi had registered himself as unemployed while also being involved in commercial activities which he failed to declare to the authorities, resulting in a suspended sentence for social fraud and an unlimited entry ban.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-Guantánamo-Häftling darf nicht nach Deutschland |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/guantanamo-haeftling-101.html |access-date=1 November 2021 |work=[[Tagesschau (German TV series)|Tagesschau]] |date=21 February 2021 |language=de}}</ref>
As of 2019, Slahi's passport had not been returned to him as was promised during his release. He has not been able to leave Mauritania to treat his health condition or see his newborn son in Germany.<ref name="Middle East Eye">{{cite news |last1=Thomas-Johnson |first1=Amandla |title='I'm being punished': Guantanamo's 'most tortured detainee' still can't leave Mauritania |url=https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/guantanamo-bay-prison-torture-us-mohamedou-salahi |access-date=7 September 2019 |work=Middle East Eye |date=22 August 2019 |language=en}}</ref> After his academic graduation in Germany in 1999 Slahi had registered himself as unemployed while also being involved in commercial activities which he failed to declare to the authorities, resulting in a suspended sentence for social fraud and an unlimited entry ban.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ex-Guantánamo-Häftling darf nicht nach Deutschland |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/guantanamo-haeftling-101.html |access-date=1 November 2021 |work=[[Tagesschau (German TV series)|Tagesschau]] |date=21 February 2021 |language=de}}</ref>


== References ==
== References ==
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}}
}}
* {{cite web
* {{cite web
| url = http://www.lawfareblog.com/2010/09/why-salahi-is-important/
| url = https://www.lawfaremedia.org/2010/09/why-salahi-is-important/
| title = Why Salahi Is Important
| title = Why Salahi Is Important
| last = Wittes
| last = Wittes
Line 385: Line 387:
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130311235948/http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0910.pdf
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130311235948/http://www.justice.gov/oig/special/s0910.pdf
| url-status = dead
| url-status = dead
}} FBI concerns about military interrogations at GTMO, pages 122-128 (PDF pages 166-172). Allegations of mistreatment by FBI personnel, pages 295-299 (PDF pages 339-343) [http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/testimony-of-the-department-of-justice/allegations-of-mistreatment-of-specific-prisoners/mohamedou-ould-skahi-760/ HTML version]
}} FBI concerns about military interrogations at GTMO, pages 122-128 (PDF pages 166–172). Allegations of mistreatment by FBI personnel, pages 295-299 (PDF pages 339–343) [http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/testimony-of-the-department-of-justice/allegations-of-mistreatment-of-specific-prisoners/mohamedou-ould-skahi-760/ HTML version]
* {{cite news
* {{cite news
| url = http://documents.nytimes.com/report-by-the-senate-armed-services-committee-on-detainee-treatment#document/p166
| url = http://documents.nytimes.com/report-by-the-senate-armed-services-committee-on-detainee-treatment#document/p166
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* {{cite book | title=The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay | first=Jess | last=Bravin | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2013 | isbn=9780300191349}}
* {{cite book | title=The Terror Courts: Rough Justice at Guantanamo Bay | first=Jess | last=Bravin | publisher=Yale University Press | year=2013 | isbn=9780300191349}}
* {{cite book | title=The Torture Report: What the Documents say about America's Post 9/11 Torture Program | first=Larry | last=Siems | publisher=OR Books | date=2012 | isbn=978-1-935928-55-3}}
* {{cite book | title=The Torture Report: What the Documents say about America's Post 9/11 Torture Program | first=Larry | last=Siems | publisher=OR Books | date=2012 | isbn=978-1-935928-55-3}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Taub |first=Ben |date= April 15, 2019 |title=Guantánamo's Darkest Secret |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/22/guantanamos-darkest-secret |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |author-link=Ben Taub}}
* {{cite magazine |last=Taub |first=Ben |date=April 15, 2019 |title=Guantánamo's Darkest Secret |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/04/22/guantanamos-darkest-secret |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |author-link=Ben Taub (journalist)}}


{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Interrogations]]
[[Category:Interrogations]]
[[Category:Mauritanian torture victims]]
[[Category:Mauritanian torture victims]]
[[Category:21st-century Mauritanian people]]
[[Category:People from Rosso]]
[[Category:People from Rosso]]
[[Category:People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States]]
[[Category:People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States]]

Latest revision as of 01:42, 19 December 2024

Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Born (1970-12-21) December 21, 1970 (age 54)[1][2]
Rosso, Mauritania[3]
Detained at Jordan
Bagram
Guantánamo
Other name(s) Mohammedou Ould Slahi, kunya: Abu Musab
ISN760
StatusReleased on October 17, 2016
OccupationWriter

Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Arabic: محمدو ولد الصلاحي; born December 21, 1970) is a Mauritanian engineer who was detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016.[4]

Slahi traveled from his home in Germany to Afghanistan in December 1990 "to support the mujahideen."[5]: 4  Slahi trained in an al Qaeda camp and swore allegiance to the organization in March 1991. He returned to Germany soon after, but traveled back to Afghanistan for two months in early 1992. Slahi said that, after leaving Afghanistan the second time, he "severed all ties with ... al-Qaeda."[5]: 5  The U.S. government maintains that Slahi "recruited for al-Qaeda and provided it with other support" since then.[5]: 5  He lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from November 1999 to January 2000. Slahi was suspected of involvement in the attempted LAX bombing and was investigated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Due to the scrutiny, Slahi returned to live in Mauritania where he was questioned and cleared of involvement.

After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. again was interested in Slahi. He was brought in for questioning by Mauritanian authorities on November 20, 2001, after which he was detained for seven days and questioned by Mauritanian officers and by agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).[6] The CIA then transported Slahi to a Jordanian prison through its extraordinary rendition program; he was held for eight months. Slahi said he was tortured by the Jordanians. After being flown to Afghanistan and held for two weeks, he was transferred to military custody and the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba on August 4, 2002, under the authority of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF).[7] Slahi was subjected to sleep deprivation, isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation at Guantánamo. In one documented incident, he was blindfolded and taken out to sea in a boat for a mock execution. Lt. Col Stuart Couch refused to prosecute Slahi in a Military Commission in 2003. He said that "Salahi's incriminating statements—the core of the government's case—had been taken through torture, rendering them inadmissible under U.S. and international law."[8]

In 2005, the internationally recognized criminal defense lawyer Nancy Hollander got involved in Slahi's case, together with lawyer Theresa Duncan. They argued Slahi's rights to a fair trial, despite criticism for defending a terrorist suspect.[citation needed] In 2010, Judge James Robertson granted a writ of habeas corpus, ordering Slahi to be released on March 22. In his unclassified opinion, Judge Robertson wrote: "... associations alone are not enough, of course, to make detention lawful."[9]: 29  The Department of Justice appealed the decision.[10][11][12] The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling and remanded the case to the District Court on November 5, 2010, for further factual findings.[5]: 3 [13][14] The District Court never held the second habeas hearing.

On July 14, 2016, Slahi was approved by a Periodic Review Board for release from detention.[15] Slahi was freed and returned to Mauritania on October 17, 2016; he had been imprisoned at Guantánamo for over fourteen years.

Slahi wrote a memoir in 2005 while imprisoned, which the U.S. government declassified in 2012 with numerous redactions. The memoir was published as Guantánamo Diary in January 2015 and became an international bestseller.[16] Slahi is the first Guantánamo detainee to publish a memoir while imprisoned.[17] Slahi wrote four other books while in detention, but he has not been allowed to access these books since being removed from Guantanamo.[18]

1988–1999

[edit]

Slahi was an exceptional student in high school in Mauritania. In 1988, he received a scholarship from the Carl Duisberg Society to study in West Germany, where he earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Duisburg.[3][6][19] In 1991, Slahi travelled to Afghanistan to join the Mujahideen fighting against the communist central government.[19] The United States had supported the Mujahideen against the Soviet occupation starting in 1979, and funnelled billions of dollars of weapons and aid to the "freedom fighters".[20] After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, there was a civil war between Mohammad Najibullah's government and the Mujahideen. Slahi trained for several weeks at the al Farouq training camp near Khost, which was run by al Qaeda, one of many Mujahideen groups in the civil war.[21] At the end of his training in March 1991, he swore bayat to al Qaeda and was given the kunya (nom de guerre) of "Abu Musab."[7][22] However, he did not participate in the civil war, instead returning to Germany.

In February 1992, Slahi travelled again to Afghanistan and was assigned to a mortar battery in Gardez. Six weeks later, the Najibullah regime fell and he returned to Germany.[9]: 12  In hearings in Guantanamo, Slahi has stated that he travelled to Afghanistan twice, attended the al Farouq training camp, and fought against the Afghan central government in 1992, but that he was never an enemy combatant against the United States.[7][11][23]: 2–4 [24]: 4–6  In fact, he was fighting on the same side as the United States, which in 1992 supported the Mujahideen fight against the communist government in Afghanistan.[11]

Slahi's cousin and former brother-in-law is Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, also known as Abu Hafs al-Mauritani. Before the September 11 attacks in the United States, Al-Walid was a spiritual adviser to Osama bin Laden, was on the Shura council of al Qaeda, and headed the sharia council.[9]: 21 [25] Two months before the attacks, al-Walid, along with several other al Qaeda members, wrote a letter to bin Laden opposing the planned attacks.[26] Al-Walid left al Qaeda after the attacks.

While al-Walid was in Sudan, where al Qaeda was based in the mid-1990s, he twice asked Slahi to help him get money to his family in Mauritania, about $4,000 in December 1997 and another $4,000 in December 1998. In the 2010 habeas corpus opinion for Slahi, the judge wrote: "the government relies on nothing but Slahi's uncorroborated, coerced statements to conclude that the money transfers were done on behalf of and in support of al-Qa'ida."[9]: 26  In 1998, Slahi was heard by U.S. intelligence talking to al-Walid on a satellite phone traced to bin Laden.[22][24][27][28]: 12 

The 9/11 Commission Report, based on the interrogations of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, stated that in 1999, Slahi advised three members of the Hamburg Cell to travel to Afghanistan to obtain training before waging jihad in Chechnya.[29][30] The federal District Court in 2010 that reviewed Slahi's case found that Slahi "provided lodging for three men for one night at his home in Germany [in November 1999], that one of them was Ramzi bin al-Shibh and that there was discussion of jihad and Afghanistan."[9]: 19  Besides Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mr. Slahi's other two houseguests were future September 11 hijackers. Slahi claims it was merely a matter of hospitality to fellow Muslims.[31]

1999–2002

[edit]

Slahi moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in November 1999 because German immigration authorities would not extend his visa for residence in Germany.[23] Since he was a hafiz, he was invited by the imam of a large mosque to lead Ramadan prayers.[24][28] Ahmed Ressam, who was caught with explosives crossing the Canada–U.S. border in December 1999 as part of the 2000 millennium attack plot, had attended the same mosque.[22] Since Slahi was known to U.S. intelligence through contact with his cousin Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, he was suspected by them of activating Ressam.[27]

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) put Slahi under surveillance for several weeks but did not find any grounds to arrest him.[27][32] According to a classified report of German intelligence, "there is not only no evidence of any involvement by Ould Slahi in the planning and preparation of the attacks, but also no indication that Ressam and Slahi knew each other."[6]

Frustrated by Canada's refusal to arrest him, the CIA worked with Mauritanian intelligence to lure Slahi back by forcing his mother to call him under the false premise that Canada was going to arrest him and he had to return to Mauritania to be protected.[33] Slahi left Canada on January 21, 2000, where he was arrested in Senegal at the request of United States authorities and questioned about the millennium plot.[34] He was transferred to Mauritania to be interrogated by local authorities and United States FBI agents.[32] After three weeks in custody, during which Slahi was accused of being involved in the millennium plot, he was released.[27]

Slahi worked at various companies in Mauritania as an electrical engineer starting in May 2000.[9][23][35] After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. renewed scrutiny of everyone suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. On September 29, he was again detained by the Mauritanian authorities for questioning.[32] He cooperated with the authorities several more times and then for the last time starting on November 20, 2001.[6][27] Slahi was interrogated by both Mauritanian officials and the FBI for seven days.

Then the CIA transported him to Jordan using extraordinary rendition. The CIA supervised his interrogation at a Jordanian prison for eight months.[6][36] Slahi claims he was tortured and forced to confess to involvement with the millennium plot. On July 19, 2002, the CIA transported Slahi to Bagram, Afghanistan, where he was transferred to military custody and held at the detention facility. The US military flew Slahi to Guantanamo Bay detention camp on August 4, 2002.[6]

Guantánamo Bay detention, 2002-2016

[edit]
Detainee Assessment written in Guantánamo prison

Slahi was assigned detainee ID number 760 and was initially held in Camp Delta. Officials belonging to the CSIS interviewed Slahi in February 2003.[37] He was among 14 men classified as high-value detainees, for whom United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld authorized use of what were called enhanced interrogation methods, which have since been classified as torture. By January 2003, US military interrogators pressed to make Slahi their second "Special Project," drawing up an interrogation plan like that used against Mohammed al-Qahtani. Declassified documents show that Slahi was transferred to an isolation cell near the end of May and abusive interrogation started.[38] He was subjected to extreme cold and noise, extended sleeplessness, forced standing or other postures for extended periods of time, threats against his family, sexual humiliation and other abuses.[38]

In February 2015, a series in The Guardian reported that one of his interrogators was Richard Zuley, a career homicide detective with the Chicago Police Department, who was called in on assignment with the United States Navy Reserve. In Chicago, Zuley has been the subject of civil suits by inmates attributing similar abuse, including shackling, threats and coerced confessions.[39]

In September 2003, Slahi was moved to Camp Echo.[22] Memos summarizing meetings held on October 9, 2003, and February 2, 2004, between General Geoffrey Miller and Vincent Cassard of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Slahi, due to "military necessity."[40][41]

Lt. Col V. Stuart Couch, a Marine Corps lawyer, was appointed as Slahi's prosecutor at Guantanamo. He withdrew from the case in May 2004 after reviewing it in depth.[8][42][43] Couch said that he believed that Slahi "had blood on his hands," but he "could no longer continue the case in good conscience" because of the alleged torture, which tainted all confessions Slahi had made.[8] Couch said that "the evidence is not believable because of the methods used to obtain it and the fact that it has not been independently corroborated."[42]

The Wall Street Journal published a letter that Slahi wrote to his lawyers on November 9, 2006.[44] In the letter, Slahi said all his confessions of crimes were the result of torture. He laughed at being asked to recount "everything" that he had said during interrogations, joking that it was "like asking Charlie Sheen how many women he dated."[44]

In 2005, the internationally recognized criminal defense lawyer Nancy Hollander got involved in Slahi's case, together with lawyer Theresa Duncan. They argued Slahi's rights to a fair trial, despite criticism for defending a terrorist suspect.[citation needed]

Guantánamo Diary

[edit]

Slahi started writing a memoir of his experiences in 2005, continuing into the next year. The 466-page manuscript was in English, a language Slahi learned at Guantánamo.[17] After litigation and negotiation, the US government declassified the memoir in 2012, making numerous redactions.[45] Excerpts were published by Slate magazine as a three-part series beginning April 30, 2013. On May 1, 2013, Slate also published a related interview with Col. Morris Davis, the military's chief prosecutor at Guantánamo from September 2005 to October 2007.[46] Guantánamo Diary was published as a book in January 2015,[17] the first work by a still-imprisoned detainee at Guantánamo. It provides details of Slahi's harsh interrogations and torture,[17] including being "force-fed seawater, sexually molested, subjected to a mock execution and repeatedly beaten, kicked and smashed across the face, all spiced with threats that his mother will be brought to Guantánamo and gang-raped."[47] It has become an international bestseller. Prison officials prevented Slahi from receiving a copy of his published book.

Joint Review Task Force

[edit]

When he assumed office in January 2009, President Barack Obama repeated his commitment to close Guantanamo. He convened a six-agency task force to review the detainees and recommend those who could be released.[48][49][50] In its 2010 report, the Guantánamo Review Task Force recommended Slahi be considered for prosecution in a military commission.[51] The task force recommended that detainees deemed too dangerous to release, but without sufficient evidence for prosecution, receive a Periodic Review Board hearing. In 2013, Slahi was listed as one of 71 detainees eligible for a review.[52] In March 2016, Slahi was granted a hearing before the Board in June.[53]

Further interrogation request

[edit]

U.S. district court James Robertson had issued an order to the Department of Defense barring them from interrogating Slahi while his habeas corpus case was under consideration. Guantánamo authorities in October 2014 seized all of Slahi's privileged legal papers and all his personal belongings, including a computer.[54] They also stripped Slahi of his "comfort items," including letters from his late mother, in an attempt to force him to agree to interrogations.[16] Slahi wrote in an unclassified letter to his attorneys in April 2015 that officials had offered to return these items if he agreed to interrogations, which had been barred for six years. Prosecutors in the case of Ahmed al-Darbi wanted to interrogate Slahi about him.[16]

Torture

[edit]

Slahi was last interrogated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on May 22, 2003. He claimed an FBI interrogator warned him "this was our last session; he told me that I was not going to enjoy the time to come."[8] Three months later Defense Secretary Rumsfeld approved the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques". Slahi was subjected to isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation by military interrogators. In one incident, he was blindfolded and taken out to sea for a mock execution.[3][8]

A 2007 Wall Street Journal report paraphrased an incident described in the 2005 Schmidt-Furlow Report, an investigation by the Department of Defense into detainee treatment at Guantanamo following FBI allegations of torture used by DOD interrogators in the early years of Guantanamo:

On July 17, 2003, a masked interrogator told Mr. Slahi he had dreamed of watching detainees dig a grave.... The interrogator said he saw "a plain, pine casket with [Mr. Slahi's] identification number painted in orange lowered into the ground."[8][55]

In the summer of 2003, Slahi was repeatedly subjected to the use of an interrogation technique which the Schmidt-Furlow Report stated had been prohibited by the Secretary of Defense on December 2, 2002.

What was not revealed until 2008 was that in a March 14, 2003, legal opinion memo issued by John Yoo of the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, to the General Counsel of the Department of Defense, Yoo advised that federal laws related to torture and other abuses did not apply to interrogations overseas.[56] At that point the Bush administration contended that Guantanamo Bay was outside US jurisdiction. The Defense Department used this memo to authorize the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" at Guantanamo and in Iraq.[56][57] Also, by 2005, The New York Times reported that by an April 2003 memo from Rumsfeld to General James T. Hill, commander of United States Southern Command, responsible for Guantanamo Bay, Rumsfeld authorized 24 specific permitted interrogation techniques to be used.[58] Jack Goldsmith, head of the Office of Legal Counsel, withdrew the Yoo Torture Memos in June 2004 and advised federal agencies not to rely on them.[57]

Slahi's lawyers in 2008 threatened to sue Mauritanian, Jordanian and U.S. officials over his torture.[59]

The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services produced a report titled Inquiry into the Treatment of Detainees in U.S. Custody on November 20, 2008.[60] It contains information about the treatment of Slahi and others at Guantanamo before 2005.[19]

According to Peter Finn of The Washington Post in 2010, Slahi, along with Tariq al-Sawah, were "two of the most significant informants ever to be held at Guantanamo. Today, they are housed in a little fenced-in compound at the military prison, where they live a life of relative privilege – gardening, writing and painting – separated from other detainees in a cocoon designed to reward and protect."[22]

Habeas corpus proceedings

[edit]

In Rasul v. Bush (2004), the United States Supreme Court ruled that detainees at Guantánamo Bay detention camp had the right of habeas corpus to challenge their detention. Slahi had habeas petitions submitted on his behalf. In response, the Department of Defense published 27 pages of unclassified documents from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) on July 14, 2005.[61]

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) mandated that Guantánamo detainees were no longer entitled access to the U.S. federal courts, so all pending habeas petitions were stayed. However, in June 2008, the Supreme Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that the MCA of 2006 could not remove detainees' right to habeas and access to the federal court system. All previous habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated.

Before submitting briefs in the habeas case, the U.S. government dropped its previous allegations that Slahi had participated in the Millennium Plot and that he knew about the 9/11 attacks before they happened.[7]

Release order

[edit]

After review of the case, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson granted the writ of habeas corpus and ordered Slahi's release on March 22, 2010.[62] Robertson's ruling was criticized by several Republican Party politicians.[63] Slahi was the 34th detainee whose release was ordered by a federal district court judge reviewing government materials associated with his habeas petition.[64] The unclassified decision was filed on April 9, 2010.[10]

Referring to the government's charge that Slahi gave "purposeful and material support" to al Qaeda, Judge Robertson wrote:

Salahi may very well have been an al-Qaida sympathizer, and the evidence does show that he provided some support to al-Qaida, or to people he knew to be al-Qaida. Such support was sporadic, however, and, at the time of his capture, non-existent. In any event, what the standard approved in Al-Bihani actually covers is "those who purposefully and materially supported such forces in hostilities against U.S. Coalition partners." 530 F.3d at 872 (emphasis added). The evidence in this record cannot possibly be stretched far enough to fit that test.[9]: 5 

Judge Robertson addressed the other government allegation, that Slahi was "part of" al Qaeda at the time of his capture. He said the law was not as clear in this instance:

neither Al-Bihani nor any other case provides a bright-line test for determining who was and who was not "part of" al-Qaida at the time of capture. The decision, in other words, depends on the sufficiency of the evidence. The question of when a detainee must have been a "part of" al-Qaida to be detainable is at the center of this case, because it is clear that Salahi was at one point a sworn al-Qaida member.[9]: 6 

Judge Robertson discusses other factors in his decision, including which side had the burden of proof and considering the reliability of coerced or hearsay testimony.[9]: 7–12  In conclusion, Judge Robertson stated:

The government had to adduce evidence – which is different from intelligence – showing that it was more likely than not that Salahi was "part of" al-Qaida. To do so, it had to show that the support Salahi undoubtedly did provide from time to time was provided within al-Qaida's command structure. The government has not done so.[9]: 31 

Appeal

[edit]

The Department of Justice appealed the decision.[10] Oral arguments were heard on September 17, 2010, by a three-judge panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In oral arguments, Judge David S. Tatel questioned whether swearing bayat in 1991 is evidence of actions a decade and more later against the United States. He noted, "When he swore bayat, the United States and al-Qaeda had a common goal. Both the United States and al-Qaeda were opposing a communist government of Afghanistan."[11] The panel discussed sending the case back to the District Court or over-ruling the decision, based on other recent D.C. Circuit rulings on the criteria that justify detention, which were still being developed.[12]

On November 5, 2010, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the decision and remanded the case to the D.C. District Court for further factual findings, based on guidance it had given to the D.C. District Court about review of such habeas corpus cases of detainees.[13][65][66] The Circuit Court panel said the following questions needed to be answered:

  • whether Slahi understood that he was referring recruits to work in al-Qaeda's "jihad" against the U.S.,
  • what Slahi may have said to bin al-Shibh in a discussion of jihad in Afghanistan,
  • whether he had been asked by al-Qaeda to help with communications projects in Afghanistan and elsewhere,
  • whether he had taken a role in planning computer "cyberattacks," and
  • whether he remained "a trusted member" of al-Qaeda up to the time of his capture.[66]

The District Court never held any hearings after the Court of Appeals decision.

Slahi had his first Periodic Review Board review on June 2, 2016.[53] A month later, the board recommended that Slahi be released.[15]

Life after detention

[edit]

On October 17, 2016, Slahi was freed and returned to Mauritania, after being detained without charge for over 14 years.[4]

In 2017, CBS News journalist Holly Williams traveled to Mauritania to interview Slahi.[67] CBS News' flagship news show, 60 Minutes, broadcast the story on March 12, 2017. CBS News described it as Slahi's first television interview since his repatriation. In this interview Mohamedou said he "wholeheartedly [forgives] everyone who wronged [him] during [his] detention." Slahi filed in April 2022 a legal claim against the Canadian government on the grounds that "faulty intelligence provided by Canadian authorities contributed to his detention" in 2002, seeking $35 million in compensation.[68]

In May 2018, Slahi's former guard at Guantanamo, Steve Wood, visited him in Mauritania during Ramadan.[69][70][71] It was covered in the 2020 documentary short film My Brother's Keeper.[72]

On January 29, 2021, the New York Review of Books published an open letter from Slahi, and six other individuals who were formerly held in Guantanamo, to newly inaugurated President Biden, appealing to him to close the detention camp.[73]

In February 2021, a film adaption of his memoir titled The Mauritanian directed by Kevin Macdonald, and starring Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Shailene Woodley was released.[74]

Personal life

[edit]

As of 2019, Slahi's passport had not been returned to him as was promised during his release. He has not been able to leave Mauritania to treat his health condition or see his newborn son in Germany.[75] After his academic graduation in Germany in 1999 Slahi had registered himself as unemployed while also being involved in commercial activities which he failed to declare to the authorities, resulting in a suspended sentence for social fraud and an unlimited entry ban.[76]

References

[edit]
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Further reading

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