Blog Power

Earlier this month, I posted a piece called Time To Tear The Roof Off Gitmo which spoke about the insane plight of British Janitor, Binyam Mohammed and the chain of events which led his rendition, torture and imprisonment in Guantanamo and the circumstances around the American Goverments reluctance to have the real lack of evidence against him revealed in British Courts.
The case against him was a nightmarish farce, a black comedy barely imaginable by a fantasy horror author. Under medieval torture, he admitted looking at a satirical website which published an article that occurred in Rolling Stone Magazine by their food editor that gave ridiculous instructions for making an atom bomb in your kitchen.
At the time of the article, Mr. Mohammed was on a hunger strike in Guantanamo, a last ditch attempt to draw the worlds attention to him or die in the process.
For the last 2 years, bloggers have been working to draw attention to cases like this.
The blog BoingBoing has been spearheading the attempt to bring Binyam Mohammeds story to the attention of the world.
The video is part of an ongoing series by BoingBoing on the rendition campaign by the United States, this episode focuses on the diaries of Binyam as read by his brother. The subject matter could be extremely disturbing as he details his torture.
Today, the world listened and as a direct result of the campaign to reach Barack Obama's ear, Binyam was returned to the United Kingdom as a free man.


Here is Binyams statement today that he made through his lawyer on his return to England:

I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery.

I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, "torture" was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim.

It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways — all orchestrated by the United States government.

While I want to recover, and put it all as far in my past as I can, I also know I have an obligation to the people who still remain in those torture chambers.

My own despair was greatest when I thought that everyone had abandoned me. I have a duty to make sure that nobody else is forgotten.

Statement from ex-Guantanamo detainee Mohamed

A lot of people worked hard to accomplish this, but the fact that it was a deed that could be accomplished is evidence that the world can change and is changing. One tiny step for blogs and a giant step for mankind.