Former Guantanamo detainee

By Mohamedou Salahi, former Guantánamo detainee I remember that ever-present day that is seared in my memory forever as if it was yesterday. It was more than 17 years ago when secret police officers led me to my old car parked outside my mother’s house in Mauritania, and asked me to follow them in their unmarked, inconspicuous vehicle. There was a visibly ashamed agent waiting to sit beside me in my car. As I emerged from my mother’s door, she stopped me.

The latest propaganda video released by ISIS last week featured a new poster boy who has become known on social media as the “new Jihadi John,” CNN reports. The black-clad man, wielding a handgun with his face hidden by a ski mask, issued threats in a distinctive London accent. There were clear parallels to “Jihadi John,” who appeared in videos depicting the beheadings of captives and who was killed in a drone strike in November.

Speaking in Arabic with a Spanish translator, Dhiab said he would formally request asylum for other detainees, but did not elaborate. Calls to the Foreign Ministry seeking comment were not returned. During the interview, shot on Wednesday, Dhiab recounted hunger strikes he participated in and criticized the U.S. government for not closing Guantanamo. While at Guantanamo, Dhiab was at the center of a legal battle in U.S. courts over the military's use of force-feeding.