Mohamed Ould Slahi is a man whose name has become synonymous with perseverance and selfless struggle for life. Slakhy spent nearly 15 years in Guantanamo prison, and according to his book, in which he spoke about torture and abuse, a picture was made that took its rightful place in the history of world cinema.

Mohamed Ould Slahi: biography, wikipedia

The author of the memoirs on which the picture “The Mauritanian” was shot, revealing the darkest secrets of Guantanamo, was born in December 1970 in the Mauritanian city of Rosso. Wikipedia does not have an article in Russian about the biography of the former prisoner of the military camp, and the article in English does not disclose information about his parents and relatives. It is known that Mohamed Ould Slahi (full name Mohamedou Ould Slahi) was brought up in a traditional Muslim family, in his youth he showed a passion for knowledge, studied well and was considered one of the best students in school. In 1988, Mohammed was awarded a scholarship from the Friedrich Carl Duisberg Foundation, which provides assistance to young people from developing countries, and went to study in Germany. At the University of Duisburg, the young Mauritanian received a degree in electrical engineering.

For the first time, Mohammed was in Afghanistan in 1991, he spent several weeks in a training camp for al-Qaeda fighters, located near Kandahar, but did not participate in the hostilities. According to Slahi himself, in the spring of 1991 he returned to Germany, but six months later he again went to Afghanistan, where he joined the ranks of the fighters of the mortar battery in the province of Gardez. In the spring of 1992, the regime of Mohammad Najibullah fell and Slahi returned to Germany, where he lived for seven years. In 1999, Slakhy was denied a visa extension by the German authorities, so he moved to Canada. The Mauritanian lived in Montreal for about a year, at the end of January 2000 he returned to his homeland. In Mauritania, Slahi worked by profession as an electrical engineer. Between 2000 and 2001, he was repeatedly interrogated because of his links with al-Qaeda and actively cooperated with both the Mauritanian authorities and the FBI. After the September 11 attacks, Mohammed was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the so-called Millennium Plot and spent eight months in detention in Jordan, after which he was transferred to a camp for persons accused of various crimes in Guantanamo Bay.

Mohammed was in the Delta camp until the fall of 2003, for two years he, according to him, was subjected to abusive interrogations, sexual humiliation and torture. Mohammed was not formally charged with involvement in terrorist acts. In October 2003, Slahi was transferred to Camp Echo. Two years later, in 2005, he began his memoirs, subsequently these notes were made public and in 2015 published in the form of a book, Guantanamo Diary.

In 2004, detainees at Guantanamo were given the right to appeal their detention. Several motions were made on Slakhy’s behalf, and in March 2010 Judge James Robertson granted a petition for his release. Judge Robertson’s decision was criticized by representatives of the US Republican Party, who claimed that Slakhy was aware of the upcoming attacks and was an active member of al-Qaeda. In November 2010, the District Court for the District of Columbia overturned Judge Robertson’s decision.

Slahi was kept in Guantanamo until 2016, he spent 14 years in prison. In October 2016, after an audit initiated by the Periodic Review Board established by President Barack Obama, Slakhy was released and returned to Mauritania.

Mohamed Ould Slahi: “Guantanamo Diary”

The Guantanamo Diary book was first published in 2015, a year before Slakhy’s release. In 2017, the memoirs of the former prisoner were republished. The Guardian reviewers called the book heartbreaking, according to editor Larry Sims, it is a unique historical document when the prisoner managed not only to document the torture and trials that fell to his lot, but also to make them public.

In 2015, producer Lloyd Levin received the rights to make a film based on Slakhy’s memoirs. The film was directed by Kevin McDonald, known to Russians for such films as One Day in September, Touching the Void and The Last King of Scotland. The role of Slahi went to Tahar Raheem, and Jodie Foster and Benedict Cumberbatch also starred in the film. In the United States, the film premiered in February 2021, the film was nominated for several prestigious film awards, and charming Jodie Foster received the fourth Golden Globe in her film career for her performance as lawyer Hollander.

Mohamed Ould Slahi: personal life

In articles devoted to the biography of Slakhy, the main attention is paid to the period of life that he spent in prison. It is known that Slahi got married after his second return from Afghanistan. According to some reports, the three sons of the Mauritanian prisoner were born after his release from Guantanamo Bay. On his Instagram, Mohammed occasionally posts photos with his sons, whose names are Mustafa, Fadel and Ahmed.

Mohamed Ould Slahi now

After the premiere of the picture “The Mauritanian”, interest in a man who spent nearly fifteen years in prison increased again. After his release, Mohammed is active in human rights activities, willingly gives interviews and talks about the hardships that have befallen him. In early 2021, he sent a letter to President Biden, in which he again demanded that attention be paid to the Guantanamo camp, in which, in his opinion, injustice and lawlessness continue to happen. Despite the sympathy of millions of people, some researchers raise the question of whether the Mauritanian prisoner of Guantanamo was a terrorist or not. Indeed, for all the time Slahi spent in Guantanamo Bay, no evidence was found indicating his involvement in the attacks, however, the fact that he was associated with al-Qaeda is beyond doubt. Perhaps someday the gaps in the biography of the Mauritanian prisoner will be filled, but the name of Mohammed Ould Slahi entered both the history of Mauritania and the history of the United States as the name of a man who staunchly fought for his life and rights.