The sudden silencing of Guantanamo's artists

September 5, 2022 12:18 PM

A few weeks ago, Khalid Qasim got some news he'd been waiting 20 years for. He had been cleared for release from the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Qasim has been in Guantanamo nearly half his life, aged 23 to 43. Like almost all the men sent there, he has never been charged with a crime. His release order does not mean freedom, yet. It is merely the starting gun on a long process of resettlement that, going by previous resettlements, could take years. Where he will be sent, neither he nor his lawyers know. While he waits, Qasim will paint.

Art from Guantánamo Bay

posted by cynical pinnacle (14 comments total)

Well, that's crap.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:33 PM on September 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

Everyone's a critic.
posted by biffa at 12:50 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Then in late 2017, under the Trump administration, it became clear that art was no longer being allowed out.

You really could rely on them to always take more, to always find a way to treat people as less.
posted by mhoye at 1:18 PM on September 5, 2022 [11 favorites]

Not everyone there even was a terrorist. Some got finked on by liars.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 1:56 PM on September 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Shame, shame, shame, on whatever American officials have anything to do with such injustice. Does the international court have time to deal with these low-life reprobates?
posted by lometogo at 3:39 PM on September 5, 2022

America prefers revenge, not justice.
posted by adamvasco at 3:56 PM on September 5, 2022 [4 favorites]

The US explicitly does not recognize the authority of international courts to try US citizens. We even have a law codifying our contempt for international courts:

The act prohibits federal, state and local governments and agencies (including courts and law enforcement agencies) from assisting the International Criminal Court (ICC). For example, it prohibits the extradition of any person from the U.S. to the ICC; it also prohibits the transfer of classified national security information and law enforcement information to the ICC.

The act also prohibits U.S. military aid to countries that are party to the ICC. However, exceptions are allowed for aid to NATO members, major non-NATO allies, Taiwan, and countries that have entered into "Article 98 agreements", agreeing not to hand over U.S. nationals to the ICC.

Any time an American official, ally, or mouthpiece talks about "human rights," they are stifling laughter at the joke they're telling.
posted by jy4m at 4:10 PM on September 5, 2022 [7 favorites]

Not everyone there even was a terrorist. Some got finked on by liars.

There is no particular reason to believe more than a handful were terrorists as far as I can tell. The US government's main rationale for holding prisoners there has been that they are or were "enemy combatants" in the government's global anti-terror campaign. But the US has been the aggressor in this campaign, and enemy combatants include for example those who fought against the US invasion of Afghanistan (in addition to those who were falsely sold out for money, those who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, those who were picked up by US or allied security services because of suspicion of their relatives, or suspicion of someone with the same name, or for completely obscure reasons, etc.).
posted by grobstein at 5:43 PM on September 5, 2022 [8 favorites]

Does the international court have time to deal with these low-life reprobates?

I think US courts are sufficient, which is why they go through so much trouble to ensure that nobody the US had kidnapped and tortured never, ever touches US soil because once there's jurisdiction for a US court, a whole can of worms is opened.
posted by mikelieman at 6:07 PM on September 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

We love "human rights" because we hate international law.
posted by flamk at 8:48 PM on September 5, 2022

Guantanamo is a pretty sweet gig--if you're a jailer. They're never going to let those guys out until they can find a new group to get in.
posted by kingdead at 8:49 AM on September 6, 2022

The art is better than I expected; that ship model is amazing. I wonder if 50 years from now there will be a cautionary museum ou there featuring artworks stamped with GitMo Relase stamps.

But when Qasim is transferred out of Guantanamo, in months or years, he will not, as things stand, be allowed to take his art. It will remain the property of the US government, which may store or destroy it.

The cruelty is the point once again.
posted by Mitheral at 9:59 AM on September 6, 2022

I wish we could do away with our legally sanctiined shittiness. Often it has to do with outright theft of property from those unfortunate enough to come in contact with private contractors.
posted by Oyéah at 1:10 PM on September 6, 2022

I just had a thought! What if someone contacted the detainees' or former detainees' attorneys and asked them to ask the detainees to grant someone the rights to reproduce the artwork - maybe as postcards or prints from digital photos - and put all the proceeds from selling it into accounts the detainees could access.

I'm gonna think more on this.
posted by bendy at 5:07 PM on September 16, 2022