Mohamedou Ould Salahi

Mohamedou Ould Salahi

Mohamedou Ould Salahi is a Mauritanian who was detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016. Salahi wrote a memoir in 2005 while imprisoned, which the U.S. government declassified in 2012 with numerous redactions. He was prohibited from receiving a copy of his published book while imprisoned. He claims he was subjected to sleep deprivation, isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation at Guantanamo.

About Mohamedou Ould Salahi in brief

Summary Mohamedou Ould SalahiMohamedou Ould Salahi is a Mauritanian who was detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp without charge from 2002 until his release on October 17, 2016. Salahi wrote a memoir in 2005 while imprisoned, which the U.S. government declassified in 2012 with numerous redactions. The memoir was published in January 2015 and became an international bestseller. He was prohibited from receiving a copy of his published book while imprisoned. He wrote four other books whilst in detention, one of which he describes as being \”about finding happiness in a hopeless place\”, but he has not been allowed to access these books since being removed from Guantanamo. The U. S. government alleged he was part of al Qaeda at the time of his arrest in November 2001. The United States had supported the mujaheddin against the Soviet occupation starting in 1979 and funneled billions of dollars of weapons and aid to fighters. The government maintains that Salahi recruited for al-Qaeda and provided it with other support since then. The Department of Justice appealed the decision. In 2010, Judge James Robertson granted a writ of habeas corpus, ordering Salahi to be released on March 22. On July 14, 2016, Salahi was approved by a Periodic Review Board for release from detention. Salahi was freed and returned to Mauritania on October17, 2016; he was imprisoned at Guanténamo over fourteen years. He received a scholarship from the Carl Duisberg Society to study in Germany, where he earned an electrical engineering degree from the University of Duisburg.

In 1991, he traveled to Afghanistan to join al Qaeda fighting against the central government of Mohammad Najibullah. He trained for several weeks at the al Qaeda camp near Khost, which was run by one al Qaeda member, Farouq Farqq. He returned to Germany soon after, but traveled back to Afghanistan for two months in early 1992. He said that, after leaving Afghanistan the second time, he severed all ties with… al- Qaeda. After the September 11 attacks, he turned himself in to Mauritania authorities for questioning about the millennium plot on November 20, 2001. He says he was tortured by the Jordanians. After being flown to Afghanistan and held for two weeks, he was transferred to military custody and the Guantánamese detention camp in Cuba on August 4, 2002. In one documented incident he was blindfolded and taken out to sea in a boat for a mock execution. He claims he was subjected to sleep deprivation, isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation at Guantanamo. He has been cleared of involvement in the attempted LAX bombing and was investigated by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling and remanded the case to the District Court on November 5, 2010, for further factual findings. In 2003, Lt. Col Stuart Couch refused to prosecute Salahi in a Military Commission in 2003.