Living in the Shadow of Guantánamo
Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting by
Ben Taub

When Mohamedou Salahi arrived at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, in August of 2002, he was hopeful.  He knew why he had been detained: he had crossed paths with Al Qaeda operatives, and his cousin had once called him from Osama bin Laden’s phone.  But Salahi was no terrorist — he held no extremist views — and had no information on any plots. He trusted the American system of justice and thought the authorities would realize their mistake before long. 

He was wrong. 

Salahi spent fifteen years at Guantánamo, where he was subjected to some of the worst excesses of America’s war on terror. Ben Taub won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for his reporting on Mohamedou Salahi. Ben traveled to Mauritania to meet Salahi, and recorded their conversations in secret, fearful of a ruling regime that is hostile to journalists. During his time in the country, Ben found himself face to face with Abu Hafs al Mauritani, Salahi’s cousin and a former member of Al Qaeda’s high command.

Produced for The New Yorker Radio Hour