Product Description

In 2006, four years after the illegal prison in Guantánamo Bay first opened, the Pentagon finally released the names of the 773 men held there, as well as 7,000 pages of transcripts from tribunals assessing their status as 'enemy combatants'. Andy Worthington is the only person to have analysed every page of these transcripts. Drawing on these documents, as well as news reports and interviews with lawyers and released detainees, this book reveals, for the first time, the stories of all those imprisoned in Guantánamo. This book does not make for easy reading. Deprived of the safeguards of the Geneva Conventions, and, for the most part, sold to the Americans by their allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the detainees have struggled for five years to have their stories heard. Looking in detail at the circumstances of their capture, and at the coercive interrogations and unsubstantiated allegations that have been used to justify their detention, 'The Guantánamo Files' reveals that the majority of those captured were either Taliban foot soldiers or humanitarian aid workers, religious teachers and economic migrants, who were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The book also uncovers stories of torture in Afghanistan and Guantánamo, and contains new information about the process of 'extraordinary rendition' that underpins the US administration's 'war on terror'. Who will speak for the 773 men who have been held in Guantánamo? This passionate and brilliantly detailed book brings their stories to the world for the first time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #170274 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-01
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'An important book. If you care about our Government's complicity in these illegal and horrific acts then this book provides the evidence.' --Ken Loach

'Guantánamo Bay is a legal black hole. ... This book is the closest many of the prisoners will come to a fair trial. Andy Worthington [uses] the US government's own documents to prove that innocent people were swept up in the post-9/11 panic. This is important work, impressively written.' --Clive Stafford Smith, Legal Director of Reprieve, and author of Bad Men: Guantánamo Bay and the Secret Prisons

'Extraordinary rendition, false imprisonment, inhumane treatment - including torture and death in secretive detention sites - has forever destroyed the lives of hundreds of men, of whom I was one. This book is the first of its kind to collate accounts from the prisoners themselves.' --Moazzam Begg, former Guantanamo detainee and spokesman for CagePrisoners

Synopsis
This is the first book to tell the story of every man trapped in Guantanamo. In early 2006, the Pentagon released 7000 pages of transcripts from tribunals assessing the status of the 759 men illegally detained in Guantanamo Bay. Journalist Andy Worthington is the only person to have analysed every page of these transcripts. This book weaves together the story of the prison and its inmates. For the first time, it brings to life the story of every man trapped in Guantanamo. Who are these men and why do they continue to be held without trial? This book goes at least some way towards answering the questions that the US has so far refused to engage with. It does not make for easy reading. Human rights abuses are commonplace under a system that allows for the arrest of any non-US citizen anywhere in the world. The book covers extensive detail on how each detainee was arrested. It includes evidence of mass killings of prisoners in Afghanistan, and people being picked up in Pakistan by bounty hunters for $5000 a head. Many men were clearly not enemy combatants. Some were involved in missionary work. Some where just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The book also includes extensive allegations of torture in US Afghan prisons, as well as within Guantanamo itself. Who will speak for the 759 men who still remain in Guantanamo? This passionate and brilliantly detailed book brings their stories to the world for the first time. This is the story of the US government's illegal arrest and shocking treatment of the 759 prisoners countries in Guantanamo Bay. Truly unique: No one else has analysed the entire 7000 pages of the inmates' tribunal transcripts. The book uncovers evidence of many appalling acts, including mass killings of prisoners in Afghanistan and bounty hunters picking people up in Pakistan for $5000 a head.

About the Author
Andy Worthington is a freelance historian. He is the author of two books on modern British social history, and his work has also appeared in the Guardian and the Idler.