Oral history interview with Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini, 2022
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- Name
- Slahi, Mohamedou Ould (Interviewee)
- Clark, Mary Marshall (Interviewer)
- Title
- Oral history interview with Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini, 2022
- Abstract
- Mohamedou Ould Slahi tells the story of his kidnapping, detention, torture, and imprisonment at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, where he was imprisoned without charges from 2002 to 2016. Slahi recounts his upbringing and education in Mauritania and Germany, and narrates the circumstances and events that led to his detention and imprisonment. He details the conditions and treatment he experience d at several facilities, including Guantánamo Bay, and outlines the legal process that led to the publication of his memoirs and eventual release. Slahi describes long periods of constant torture, eventually leading to a coerced false confession, the reaction among Guantánamo detainees after the election of Barack Obama in 2008, and the relative improvement in conditions and treatment in the detention camp following the signing of Obama's January 22, 2009 executive orders on detention and interrogation. Slahi also discusses his difficult journey back to freedom, his present-day happiness in his life, and the Obama administration's failure to close Guantánamo Bay
- Collection Name
- Barack Obama Presidency oral history collection
- Subjects
- Presidents--United States; Torture--Government policy--United States; Military interrogation--Government policy--United States; Detention of persons--Government policy--United States; Due process of law--United States; Prisoners--Legal status, laws, etc.--Cuba; Prisoners--Civil rights--Cuba; Military bases, American--Law and legislation--Cuba; Guantánamo Bay Naval Base (Cuba); Slahi, Mohamedou Ould; Obama, Barack; Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp
- Format
- oral histories
- Genre
- Interviews
- Date
- 2022
- Physical Description
- 41 pages
- Note (Biographical)
- Mohamedou Ould Slahi is a Mauritanian citizen and author who was detained at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp without being charged from 2002 to 2016, when he was approved for release by a Periodic Review Board. In 2005, Slahi authored a memoir, a r edacted version of which was declassified in 2012, and published to international acclaim in 2015
- Note
- Interviewed Mary Marshall Clark on July 26, 2022. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
- Note (Provenance)
- Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023
- Language
- English
- Library Location
- Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Browse Location’s Digital Content - Catalog Record
- 17709521
- Also In
- Oral History Archives at Columbia
- Barack Obama Presidency oral history collection
- Persistent URL
- https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/9yn8-cy51
- Related URLs
- Available digital content for this interview.