So today is my Dad’s 85th birthday. I think it deserves some recognition. He is doing well all things being equal, and I am a very lucky guy to have him, and my other parents still around. At this age, this is a bonus. So thanks Dad for being there, and always caring.
The Mauritanian: This movie was released in 2021, and when I saw early trailers I was impressed by the cast who included Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Shailene Woodley, among others. This is a dramatization based upon a book and true story from the young man who was detained at Guantanimo Bay (GITMO) in Cuba. The timing is two months post 9/11 the United States is aggressively pursuing those who were involved in the terrorist attacks of that fateful day. Mohamedou Ould Slahi is taken from his home in Mauritania (in Africa, yes I had to look it up too. It is on the west coast of Africa near Senegal). He is detained in various countries to start, but is never told under what charge he is being held. He ends up at the US Military base and held where the US authorities are looking to seek the death penalty in his trial. The unknown allegation to him was espionage, and specifically he was alleged to have actively recruited for Osama Bin Laden the pilots who flew into the twin towers.
After an extended stay at GITMO, the US Supreme Court had held that detainees had the right to habeus corpus which is allowing them to be brought before a judge and to know the charges against them and to face their accuser, or to be released. Enter Jodie Foster and Shailene Woodley, attorneys from a firm in New Mexico which heard about this case in passing. Foster is the senior partner, and Woodley the associate. They have an uphill battle. On the State’s side, there is Benedict Cumberbatch who is a motivated government lawyer, and a naval aviator, who wants to have someone pay for the attacks on the US. However motivated he is, he is still very much a lawyer who believes in due process and ensuring that the prosecution has fully discharged their duty. The cat and mouse story of legal proceeding shows the challenges when the prosecution is not interested in fully showing what they have done. However predictable the story is, and what the viewer anticpates will happen, when you finally see it, it’s unsettling and disturbing. As a lawyer I have a hard time understanding the actions of some of those involved. If you have ever wondered how in WWII, the German people were able to be willing part of genocide and the extermination of the Jews, you get some further into human behaviour and not just German behaviour.
This story is also very timely for me to watch with current world news in Israel with Palestine on the Gaza strip. What intrigues me is how governments can use horrific events (and make no mistake that the events as they have been desribed by the Hamas are inhuman, having no place in human interaction) to then justify the cessation of basic rights that citizens and humans expect in any conflict. In this situation, the US chose to ignore basic rights of due process. They were convinced by sketchy evidence (a phone call from Bin Laden’s international phone to Slahi), and they sought to obtain any information he may have by any means. The evidence would then be used in a case against him. The lawyers are entering the story well after the military interrogations took place. There are moments in the faces from Foster and Cumberbatch when they are finally reading the details of what had occured at this sight, which show the viewer everything you need to know. But like any detention camp, there are workers there; guards, cooks, officers, people engaged in transporting the detainees. So how much did they know? How secretive can you be when loved ones are asking questions? Ultimately when it comes to government actions, one would hope that the rule of law, due process, the Geneva Convention and human rights would be observed by all. What is the probitive value of a confession that is coerced? Is this admissible in court? Should it be? How much lack of due process should a court be willing to accept? These are all really good questions that beg for answers as this story unfolds. Should a person be able to be held without a charge for over a decade, no matter how powerful the nation or how strong their desire for retribution for a heinous act committed against them? But should the search for “somebody” mean that “anybody” can do?
As an aside GITMO has been around since March 2022 in its present form and was a creature of George W Bush and Dick Cheney. President Obama stated that he would close Gitmo but never did. The number of detainees was substantially reduced from 250 to 41. President Biden has also committed to close it, but hasn’t taken any active steps to do so.
Mondays With Robbie 