NEW YORK – In the mesh cages of Guantanamo Bay, with the sun bearing down and detainees shacked by the ankles, hundreds of Muslim men and boys would use an expression to one another: “I resist, therefore I live.”
As the eyes of millions remain on the United States during this World Cup, 400 miles to the southeast lies the naval base at the centre of countless allegations of human rights abuses. For its opponents, it is an unresolved symbol of injustice; or in Arabic, Zulm, which translates literally into putting something outside of its rightful place.
I spoke with former detainees who spent years inside Guantanamo. They told the stories of their capture, torture and illegal detention, and of the extraordinary moments of human spirit on the makeshift football pitches of the camps by the Cuban coast.
In the peak of the “War on Terror” after the 9/11 attacks, 779 men were held there; more than 98 per cent have never been convicted. Fifteen of them remain there today. Over the past four weeks, the US has sought to use the World Cup to bolster its international reputation; amidst the noise, the last voices of “Gitmo” have gone unheard.
‘I never dreamed I would end up here’
