A Long Forty Seconds: Mohammed el Gharani and Habeas Corpus - a podcast by Laura Flanders

Mohammed el Gharani was one of the youngest detainees ever held at Guantanamo Bay. At the age of fourteen he was abducted, imprisoned and subjected to torture – a non person in America’s non prison camp. Close to eight years later, never having been charged or tried, he was released. But like all men who’ve been locked up in Guantanamo, Mohammed el Gharani is barred for life from ever entering the USA.

This fall, the artist and thought provoker Laurie Anderson, brought him here anyway. And as significant as that border crossing was for el Gharani, it turned out to be just as important for Americans.

For three days this October, Anderson arranged for el Gharani to be beamed in via satellite, from West Africa where he lives with his wife and children, into the huge former Drill Hall of New York’s Park Avenue Armory. There he sat, projected onto an enormous white chair almost the size of the Lincoln Memorial. A living, talking, tele-presence.

“Many people have told my story… Now I have the opportunity to speak for the first time,” said el Gharani. When he was ordered released, judge Richard J Leon, described the government’s case against el Gharani as a“mosaic” of unfounded allegations” including one that he’d been an Al Qaeda operative in London -- at eleven years old.

Collaborating with Anderson was el Gharani’s first chance to talk with an American who wasn’t his interrogator. He then got a chance to meet scores more, as the Drill Hall filled with people who stayed, some for hours, just sitting and lying on the ground, in his company.

Every so often, a camera was opened up for el Gharani’s New York visitors. Shyly then eagerly, they stepped into the light, to communicate with him back in Africa. Because of the long distance, and a 40 second delay in transmission, talking was impossible and so lots of people waved. Or mouthed I’m sorry. One woman, hand on her chest, lifted up tear-soaked eyes. A dreadlocked young man about el Gharani’s age, raised a fist.

Forty seconds is a long time for a peace sign to travel half way around the world. The woman with the tears in her eyes had walked away by the time el Gharani brought his fingertips together into a heart. Forty seconds is a long time. But it’s not as long as 14 years of justice denied. We need to close Guantanamo and to bring its victims closer. We all, it turns out, have a lot to say.

You can watch my interview with Laurie Anderson about Working with former Guantanamo prisoner, Mohammed el Gharani, this this week on The Laura Flanders Show on KCET/LINKtv and TeleSUR and find all my interviews and reports at LauraFlanders.com. To tell me what you think, write to Laura@LauraFlanders.com.

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