Description
Object description
British civilian detainee in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 2002-2005
Content description
REEL 1: Background in Birmingham, GB: family and childhood; education at Jewish primary school; secondary education and first experience of racism; involvement with street gang and question of identity. Aspects of period in GB, Bosnia, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1992-2002: impact of First Gulf War on development of own Islamic faith; reaction to treatment of Bosnian Muslims; worked with aid convoys in Bosnia and as member of Bosnian Army Foreign Volunteer Force; reaction to witnessing atrocities against Muslims; story of going on Hadj, 1997; reason for going to Peshawar, Pakistan, with wife and children; description of attending training camps on Pakistan/Afghan border; role in setting up girls school in Kabul, Afghanistan; reaction to 9/11 terrorist attacks in US; description of US bombing of Kabul and fleeing with family to Islamabad, Pakistan, 2001.
REEL 2 Continues: further comments on girls school in Kabul; attitude of Taliban to school; daily life under Taliban regime; story of arrest and release without charge while running bookshop in Birmingham, GB, 1998; daily life in Islamabad; family helped refugees from Afghanistan; story of arrest by Pakistani forces and Americans, 2/2002; hooded and shackled; attitude to opening of Guantanamo Bay detention centre; description of interrogations by FBI and MI5. Aspects of period in Afghanistan, 2/2002 – 2/2003: description of further interrogation and treatment by US military at detention camp in Kandahar.
REEL 3 Continues: description of conditions and treatment of detainees; moved to Bagram Theatre Internment Facility; description of cells in warehouse building; explanation of 'monstering' system; use of torture and violence against detainees; presence of officers form MI5 and MI6; question of family not being informed of whereabouts and lack of legal representation; description of interrogation methods; relations with US guards; opinion of food; state of health; problem of being kept shackled and lack of physical exercise; prayers; story of being processed for Guantanamo Bay, 2/Feb/2003; description of journey and arrival. Aspects of period as detainee in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 2/2003-1/2005: description of camp and living conditions; accommodation; kept in solitary confinement; comparison of experiences at Kandahar, Bagram and Guantanamo Bay; physical and mental effects of detention.
REEL 4 Continues: problem of keeping physically fit; relations with US guards and opinion of treatment; effect of solitary confinement on mental condition; story of discussion with psychiatrist about committing suicide; suicides among detainees; released from solitary confinement, 10/2004; contact with other detainees, including Osama Bin Laden's former driver; morale among detainees; reason for writing poetry; story of writing letter protesting about treatment and continued detention.
REEL 5 Continues: five copies of letter sent to GB, 7/2004; role of US Vietnam veteran in writing letter; story of family in GB starting campaign for release; visit from lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith; story of release and return to GB, 1/2005. Aspects of period in GB, 2005-2011: arrested on arrival under Prevention of Terrorism Act; interrogation and release without charge; reunion with family; problem of adjustment to freedom and changes in lifestyle; story of beginning campaign to obtain release of other Guantanamo detainees including Shaker Aamer; attitude to rendition; opinion of Edmund Clark's photographic project about Guantanamo Bay and detainees.
REEL 6 Continues: reaction to pledge by President Obama to close Guantanamo facility; process of reconciliation with former guards; role in continuing campaign on behalf of Guantanamo detainees and other prisoners; story of visiting Great Escape and Holocaust exhibitions at Imperial War Museum, London, and comparison with own experiences.
