The Mauritanian (Guantánamo Diary)

The Mauritanian (2021) is the restored edition of the Guantánamo Diary (2015) memoir by Mauritanian author and engineer Mohamedou Ould Slahi and features an updated introduction. A film version of The Mauritanian was released in 2021.

Slahi penned the manuscript of his memoir between 2003 and 2005 during his 14-year imprisonment in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Although held on suspicion of terrorism, Slahi was never charged with any crime. His story exemplifies survival and grace under extreme conditions. The 2015 publication was heavily censored, with numerous redactions by US intelligence staff. Both versions of the book were edited by human rights advocate Larry Siems, who received the original manuscript from Slahi’s lawyer, Nancy Hollander. The book details Slahi’s ordeal, from his arrest in Mauritania, to his kidnapping, to his transfers to secret prisons in Jordan and Afghanistan and, eventually Guantanamo—all of it coordinated by US intelligence and military. The author describes the daily life of a detainee, including regular torture via “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” in the framework of the US War on Terror.

This guide references the Little, Brown and Company Kindle edition of the book.

Content Warning: The book (and this guide) references torture, graphic violence, sexual assault, racism, and Islamophobia.

Summary

The Mauritanian is an important contribution to the prison-diary genre, which includes such notable works as the 19th-century House of the Dead by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In contrast to Dostoyevsky’s somewhat fictionalized account of his captivity in a Siberian prison, Slahi’s documentation of his experiences as a US detainee is authentic. The first half of the book follows reverse chronological order. Chapter 1, a standalone chapter, functions as a shocking hook by describing the start of the author’s ordeal at Guantanamo. Part 1, “BEFORE” (comprising Chapters 2-4) discusses the author’s life before captivity at Guantanamo. It provides context and highlights the gradual escalation of his predicament. In addition, this part of the book explains the genesis of the US government’s interest in the author, which centered on his six-week trip to Afghanistan during the civil war in 1990-1991 and on his cousin Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, a one-time spiritual advisor to al-Qaeda. Part 2, “GTMO” (comprising Chapters 5-7) chronologically follows Chapter 1 and focuses on the portion of the author’s detention at Guantanamo between 2003 and 2005. The main theme of his daily life in detention is its absurdity: from not being formally arrested and charged to undergoing the same interrogation questions daily.

The book covers other relevant themes, such as the depersonalization and dehumanization of detainees through torture and their experience of racism and Islamophobia. Note that the author’s descriptions of the use of torture at Guantanamo are detailed and graphic. As such, The Mauritanian serves not only as a memoir about one man’s survival but also as an important historical document in the context of US foreign policy in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central and South Asia, as well as the US War on Terror after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The author empathetically discusses both the detainees and their captors—the guards and the interrogators. He documents their individual personalities and tries to assess them objectively, including the positive aspects of their character—a notable feat considering the context.

Stylistically, the book is written in colloquial English. The author was fluent in other languages, such as Arabic and German, prior to being “disappeared” at Guantanamo but knew only basic English; he learned English while in captivity, partly from his captors. The colloquial writing style captures the raw emotion of his experiences. Another key stylistic motif is Slahi’s use of Mauritanian folktales to draw parallels between his experiences and folk wisdom. Traditional Mauritanian culture is of great importance to the author, as evident in his 2021 novel The Actual True Story of Ahmed and Zarga, which is about a Bedouin camel herder. Cast against the hospitality, communal orientation, and openness of Bedouin culture, the events of The Mauritanian seem even more devastating. Additionally, Slahi balances his detailed accounts of torture with observations that identify irony and humor in his experiences as a detainee. Indeed, his sense of humor and his faith are arguably the key characteristics that allowed him to survive and even live a productive and meaningful life under extreme conditions.