It's not even six o'clock in the morning, and Mohamed Slaha has been on set for hours. It stands on a sand dune, 30 kilometers south of Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
The film crew set up cameras and spotlights around the campfire. They are filming a scene from Slahi's childhood. The boy, who sleeps by the fire, plays 10-year-old Slahi. "Mohammed," says the director, "what did your father say to you in the desert?" Slahi laughs. His father sang him a song about god, life in death. "Thank you, Allah, for my coming and going, for children and years, and before I die, I hope you will accept me in my endeavor."
This Bedouin verse is about belief in fate and how things can sometimes seem like a sandstorm, threatening and prone to sudden changes in direction. They talk about the laws of the desert, which his father taught him during night walks with camels. As a Bedouin, Slahi learned to keep his cool even in the most difficult circumstances - and to accept fate, whatever it may be. This could explain how he managed to survive Guantanamo, writes "Spiegel".
Choose love
Prison robbed Mohamed Ould Slahi of 5.445 days of his life. A few weeks after the 11/760 attacks, the CIA kidnapped him in Mauritania. The Americans suspected him of helping to plan the attack, which is a complete mistake, which the US has never acknowledged or apologized for. What followed was an ordeal, to say the least. Slahi was first interrogated in Jordan, then in Afghanistan. Finally, he was flown to the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he became prisoner no. XNUMX.
Now his story has been turned into a movie starring Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch. The screening of "Prisoner 760" is planned for the beginning of 2021. Cumberbatch plays a conservative American judge, Stuart Couch, who was supposed to prosecute Slahi, but eventually dropped the case due to lack of evidence.
"The film is a political thriller. It shows how our societies are changing," says director Kevin McDonald.
One morning in mid-March, Slahi sat in his one-and-a-half-room apartment in downtown Nouakchott. In a few hours he had to appear again on the set. For a German magazine, he told how the American torturers brought him to the Caribbean Sea in a speedboat. Bound, blindfolded and body wrapped in ice, presumably to hide the traces of violence, he was told that no one would care if he disappeared into the ocean. He would sink like a stone, they told him. They beat him until he broke his ribs.
He says that at first he was full of rage. "I could have dropped a bomb on the White House." The 49-year-old removes his loose damask robe and turban, revealing a lean man with a shaved head and gentle face, wearing trousers and a short-sleeved T-shirt that reads "Choose Love".
"My door is open"
"Spiegel" states that Slahi, unlike many others, did not go crazy in Guantanamo. Prisoner no. 535, for example, an Egyptian, believed that he actually went to hell. In 2003 alone, 120 prisoners attempted suicide. Very few of those who were freed managed to return to normal life. Slahi says the sounds from his childhood helped him get through his darkest hours.
It wasn't until October 17, 2016 that the CIA returned him to the place where he was abducted a decade and a half earlier, the Nouakchott airport. By then, his old life no longer existed. His mother died. The brother, who imported car tires from Germany, lost his job. Slahi met nieces and nephews in his teenage years that he never knew existed.
After his release, he wrote a post on Facebook for all those who guarded and mistreated him: “We learned a lot about each other. I hope we can meet again and have tea. My door is open.”
Slahi says: “I forgave my tormentors. There is no other way to survive this fate without going insane.”
One US Navy investigator responded to Slahi's post with a vacation photo of herself posing in front of the Berlin Wall. “Hello pillow! I hope everything is fine. I'm glad you're home.” Pillow was the nickname given to Slahi by the soldiers. They called him that because the pillow was the first thing he was allowed to keep in his cell after the cruelest round of torture, which lasted 70 days. Another soldier, who identified himself as a Jedi, wrote: “I just want to say I'm sorry if I ever did anything to hurt you. I wish you all the best in life.”
5.445 days of his life were taken away by prison from Mohamed Ould Slahi
Jedi was stationed at the Guantanamo detention center from 2003 to 2004, during Slahi's darkest period. The soldier would constantly shake him to keep him awake, depriving him of sleep and food, and when it was time to fast, he was forced to eat. Slahi replied, “Hey, brother! You were always good to me, remember the "mountain dew" (soft drink) and blueberry muffins. Thank you for calling.” Slahi also befriended one of the guards. They played chess and watched movies. Two years ago, this former soldier, Steve Wood, visited Slahi in Mauritania.
The call that connected him to Bin Laden
Slahi, however, still suffers from the consequences of torture. His bedroom is no bigger than his former cell. He can only sleep alone. He often dreams that he is back in Guantanamo, lying naked on the floor under neon lights, the American national anthem playing and the interrogators yelling at him. Now thousands of kilometers separate it from Cuba. But part of Guantanamo is still with him.
Slahi wrote a book in captivity, "The Guantanamo Diary", which became a bestseller and was translated into 27 languages. The book is the only authentic testimony of a former prisoner about life in prison. Slahi's lawyer, Nancy Hollander, waged a years-long legal battle against US authorities to force the publication of the manuscript.
The book also served as the basis for the movie "Prisoner 760". It is the story of a Bedouin boy from the Idab Lahsan tribe in southwest Mauritania, who received a Karl Duisberg scholarship in Germany for outstanding results at school. After that, the young man enrolled in electrical engineering studies. He lived in Germany for 12 years.
As a Bedouin, Slahi learned to keep his cool even in the most difficult circumstances - and to accept fate, whatever it may be. That could explain how he managed to survive Guantanamo
Then Slahi received a call from a relative. That relative had followed al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden to Sudan, and called Slahi from the terrorist's phone, asking him to send money to his ailing father. Slahi accepted that request. American spies intercepted the phone call, which led the CIA to conclude that Slahi was Bin Laden's main recruiter in Germany - a mistake the agency has never admitted, the German weekly said.
USA: A dangerous manipulator
In the movie "Prisoner 760", Slahi is played by a French actor. Jodie Foster plays Nancy Hollander, Slahi's lawyer.
"I was first attracted by the emotional story, Mohamedu's terrible journey," she said in an interview for "Spiegel". "It's hard to imagine how a human being could endure that."
When Hollanderova and the prisoner met for the first time, the lawyer had no idea who he was or whether he was guilty. Now, she tells Spiegel: "Mohamedu is an innocent man who faced the combined power of the state and lost his basic rights."
Unlike many others, Slahi did not go crazy in Guantanamo. Prisoner no. 535, an Egyptian, believed he had gone to hell
The US government claims that Slahi is a dangerous manipulator. "Spiegel" points out that in the eyes of those who continue to monitor Slahi, the fact that star lawyers like Hollander defend him without compensation only further confirms this suspicion. For them, Slahi is a cold-blooded and calculated person - a "bad guy". At least that's what American diplomats write to colleagues in allied countries when Slahi applies for a visa in Western countries, including Germany.
Meanwhile, Slahi completed a distance learning course at an international academy to become a life coach. He believes his experiences uniquely qualify him to help people who are under stress. He now advises clients in the USA, Switzerland and Britain via Skype. “It helped me realize that there are so many people suffering from problems similar to mine,” Slahi said. Most of his clients have relationship problems and suffer from a lack of self-love.
His next book is already finished. It tells the story of a Bedouin whose camel got lost after following the wrong caravan, and the adventures its owner experiences as he tries to return the animal he loves as a member of the family. Slahi wants to make a living from writing and to fight for human rights.
He would like to go to Berlin, where his wife and child live.
But so far he is not allowed. Since his release from Guantanamo, Germany has refused to grant him a visa.
Physical touch still causes pain
Slahi remarried two years ago. He met his new wife online. She is American and works in Berlin. Now they have a one-year-old son. This relationship is a new beginning, but also a "challenge", says Slahi. The sexual humiliation he experienced in Guantanamo "became a part of me." Physical touch still evokes pain and old memories. He points out that writing helps him, as well as being alone.
In "Spiegel's" report it is stated that Slahi is a hero in Mauritania. When he walks down the street in the Tevra-Zeinam neighborhood next to the "Safari" cafe and the "Semiramis" hotel, drivers play music. Girls call him out like he's a rock star. Some ask to take pictures with him. In his native country, there is no stigma attached to being held at Guantanamo. The girls say that he stood up to the injustice of America and defeated the greatest power in the world with his inner strength.
Bonus video:
