Ep.48 The Mauritanian with Moazzam Begg
If you want to see a film that simultaneously depicts the horrors of man’s excessive barbarism but also the indominable spirit of human resilience, you have to watch The Mauritanian. Set in the legally dubious post-9/11 world, it tells the gripping story of Mohamedou Ould Slahi and his rendition to the infamous ex-Soviet airbase, Bagram in Afghanistan and then Guantanamo Bey. Slahi was falsely accused of links to Al-Qaeda and without recourse to due process, international treaties and conventions and the so-called cherished principles of the US constitution, he ended up spending 14 long years in Camp X-Ray. Yet the power of the human spirit and his Islamic convictions prevailed and he returned to his home country of Mauritania, exonerated of any wrongdoing.
But the film left many unanswered questions. We invited Moazzam Begg from the campaigning group Cage UK, also a former Guantanamo prisoner, to talk about the film, his relationship with Slahi and to put into context the geopolitical and legal issues that led to what some describe as a scar on American democracy.