In the Shoes of Yahdih Ould Yalih

Guantánamo Diary gives an intimate view of Mohamedou's experience of being condemned without reason. He is subjected to torture, humiliation, and isolation from his family, all for intel he doesn’t have and will never be able to give. Parallel to the lies, he is told at the detention centre that his family also was deceived for a year by the Nouakchott prison guards. who unscrupulously pocketed money and clothes meant for Mohamedou. Mohamedou in this case was not even in the country, he had left after a week into his final detainment at Mauritania. The family’s beloved brother and son was gone. It was only after Mohamedou’s younger brother,Yahdih, the now “assumed European breadwinner of the family” (Larry Siems, 26 Ebook Edition) and in Germany, picked up the daily Der Spiegel and learned that his brother had “been sitting for months in a wire cage in the U.S. prison camp in Guantánamo”.

*In no way is this a true blog post written by Yahdih Ould Slahi. This is a fictional piece in which I try to imagine what it would be like to learn that my whole family has been deceived and my brother sent to another continent. Like the memoir, names will not be specific, and will have familiar titles like brother, mother, youngest sister, etc.

To read "Yadih's Blog" please scroll down to the bottom. I "pretended" to publish it on Oct 28, 2002, the day "he picked up the Der Spiegel".