Behind Black Bars

Laugh, Cry, and Wonder Why

 

As you read the memoir, you feel the hope and hopelessness, the disgust and foreboding, and the pure sarcasm and boldness born from the fact that he knew he was innocent, and that his interrogators had the same knowledge, yet were trying to prove otherwise. All under the behest and tactless paranoia of the U.S., land of the free and just. Still, he wrote his words with strong wit and such sincerity and truth (as he could in the situation), even when the events turned ugly, degrading, and humiliating. Even after repeated torture sessions, he was even able to croak, “I know how important I am to my dear mom, but I’m not sure when it comes to the U.S. government.”(Mohamedou, 226 Ebook Edition).

 

 

The audience was just as much himself as it was the for public eye (pointedly Americans), his family, and ultimately the government who incarcerated him. “I’m speaking in this book about my own experience, which reflects an example of the evil practices that took place in the name of the War Against Terrorism” (Mohamedou, 230 Ebook Edition). We can imagine him looking through his diary, as he sits in isolation, reliving the events that brought him to where he was. Writing the book was his only justice. And despite what he went through at the hands of Americans, he never said he hated them. He is “eager to know” what the “American people think,” and would like to believe that they want “to see justice is done” and that they are uninterested in “financing the detention of innocent people”. (Mohamedou, 255 Ebook Edition).

 

 

 

For any readers who would like to read the unedited handwritten manuscript or watch a short documentry check out the link below!

 

Official Site and Original Handwritten Manuscript