Who is the main subject in the memoir, Guantánamo Diary?

Mohamedou Ould Slahi is a Mauritanian man who practices Islam. He originally is from a relatively poor background, but was the recipient of scholarship to study at the university level in Germany. He was the first in his family to attend university. He trained in electrical engineering, and held jobs in both Germany and Canada. Despite living and working in the West for years, Slahi remained a practicing Muslim. During his university years, in 1991, he participated in an insurgency in Afghanistan against the communist government, an effort that had U.S. support.

Slahi comes under suspicion because of his affiliation with a Canadian mosque where the Millennium Plot bomber, Ahmed Ressam, also practiced. Unfortunately for Slahi, he remains under suspicion of the U.S. government for his multiple questionable associations and, it seems, simply by virtue of moving in certain circles: He is multilingual, has lived abroad, works in a technical discipline, swore an oath to al-Qaeda (even if before they were a terrorist group), received weapons training and fought, and has connections—however tenuous—in the Muslim community that link him to terrorism.

Slahi was taken into custody in the wake of 9/11, and wrote his memoir while detained at Guantanamo Bay. Slahi makes every effort to portray himself as a credible narrator by communicating in a reasoned tone, empathizing with his interrogators and guards throughout the book, and relating his experience to Western laws and customs. At the time of publication, January 20, 2015, Slahi remained detained at Guantanamo Bay. Slahi was released on October 17, 2016.