Guantánamo Diary

Restored Edition

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Mohamedou Ould Slahi: Guantánamo Diary (2017, Back Bay Books)

paperback, 464 pages

Published Oct. 17, 2017 by Back Bay Books.

ISBN:
978-0-316-51788-1
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5 stars (4 reviews)

"This is the first and only diary written by a still-imprisoned Guantánamo detainee. Since 2002, Mohamedou Slahi has been imprisoned at the detainee camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In all these years, the United States has never charged him with a crime. Although he was ordered released by a federal judge, the U.S. government fought that decision, and there is no sign that the United States plans to let him go. Three years into his captivity Slahi began a diary, recounting his life before he disappeared into U.S. custody and daily life as a detainee. His diary is not merely a vivid record of a miscarriage of justice, but a deeply personal memoir--terrifying, darkly humorous, and surprisingly gracious."--

3 editions

Review of 'Guantánamo diary' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It's an excellent prison memoir from a man who has been imprisoned without charge at the U.S. torture facility at Guantánamo since 2001. It will probably be enshrined as one of the best prison memoirs.

[a:Mohamedou Ould Slahi|8241241|Mohamedou Ould Slahi|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] taught himself English, largely while in captivity, and what his (at times heavily-redacted) writing lacks in vocabulary, it makes up for in wit. The author has an excellent memory, which helps him describe the various aspects of his imprisonment, interrogation, and torture vividly.

The redactions are often bizarre and contribute to the book something like a second author or character whose destructive and sometimes ridiculous censorship is, from a literary point of view, a valuable foil to Slahi's open-heartedness.

Slahi is still imprisoned at Guantánamo, as are many others. His torturers are still collecting government paychecks or pensions, as are those who ordered the torture, and those who continue to …