Life After Guantánamo: “It Doesn’t Leave You”

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The Intercept

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4.8 • 6.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 December 2021

⏱️ 24 minutes

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Summary

On Tuesday, with 39 men remaining at Guantánamo Bay, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on closing the infamous military prison. This week on Intercepted: Intercept photo editor Elise Swain breaks down the horrifying story of one Yemeni man after being released from Guantánamo. After 20 years in arbitrary detention, former Guantánamo detainee Abdulqadir al Madhfari was released from a United Arab Emirates prison to his family’s care in Yemen. His freedom lasted less than a week. Suffering the mental impact of long-term detention and torture, al Madhfari fled from his own family and was captured and detained by Houthi rebels in Yemen. Swain discusses the consequences of life after Guantanamo with Mansoor Adayfi, a former detainee and author of the memoir “Don't Forget Us Here.” Mansoor calls for accountability and reparations to the men detained and tortured, describing how his life and those of others now resemble "Guantánamo 2.0." join.theintercept.com/donate/now

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Imagine you're taken by US forces, tortured, held in Guantanamo for 14 years, released
0:17.3	to start a new life, tortured again in the country that promised to help you, then sent
0:22.8	home to war-torn Yemen, and then finally free, you're disappeared by hoothy rebels who want
0:29.9	you dead. That's what happened to Abdul Qadr.
0:34.3	This is intercepted.
0:48.2	I'm Elise Swain, photo editor of the intercept.
1:13.2	For years now I've been working in multimedia, covering a variety of topics, but keeping
1:17.2	a close eye on developments with Guantanamo Bay. Next month will be the 20th anniversary
1:22.4	of the day men in orange jumpsuits arrived, hooded and shackled at the detention center.
1:33.4	Since 2002 nearly 800 men have been held at the military prison, including the 39 men
1:39.1	who remain there today. And just this week the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing
1:44.0	on the closing of the military prison.
1:46.5	There are some who need to pay the price for their crimes, but what we have now is not
1:50.7	justice. There is no justice for the detainees, but more importantly the relatives of the
1:56.1	victims of 9-11 and of other terror attacks deserve justice and they deserve closure and
2:01.6	they aren't getting it.
2:05.1	We're going to talk today about what happened to one man when he left Guantanamo.
2:09.5	I've been reporting on a story that I still can't believe is real. It's been impossible
2:13.5	to wrap my head around what this man has been through and what his family went through.
2:18.2	His name is Al-Bokkar Al-Mafari and he is Guantanamo detainee number 40.
2:28.4	Right after 9-11 during the CIA's dragnet sweep across the Middle East, Al-Bokkar was taken
2:33.3	from Pakistan. He was likely sold to the CIA before being flown in 2002 to Guantanamo Bay.
	...

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