Mohamedou Ould Slahi fights for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years.
Based on the NY Times best-selling memoir "Guantánamo Diary" by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, this is the true story of Slahi's fight for freedom after being detained and imprisoned without charge by the U.S. Government for years. Alone and afraid, Slahi finds allies in defense attorney Nancy Hollander and her associate Teri Duncan who battle the U.S. government in a fight for justice that tests their commitment to the law and their client at every turn. Their controversial advocacy, along with evidence uncovered by a formidable military prosecutor, Lt. Colonel Stuart Couch, uncovers shocking truths and ultimately proves that the human spirit cannot be locked up.—STXfilms
The real life story of Mauritanian national Mohamedou Ould Slahi's detainment at Guantanamo Bay in the aftermath of the 911 attacks on suspicions that he was the mastermind recruiter for some of the 911 pilots is dramatized. In 2005 in a general writ of habeus corpus which allows the uncharged detainees at Guantanamo Bay to have their cases heard in light of not being charged, Albuquerque based law partner Nancy Hollander is convinced at least to look at Slahi's case on the indirect request of his family back in Mauritania, who just learned of he being at Guantanamo Bay after he left home one day late in 2001 in volunteering to go with authorities not to be seen again. Hollander, choosing her junior colleague Theresa Duncan in needing someone who speaks at least one of Slahi's languages, decides to take the pro bono case against the protestations of her law partners who believe the publicity of a being a "terrorist lover" will hurt the firm's reputation. Hollander and Duncan's mission to provide a legal defense is made all the more difficult in Slahi's overall suspicions, not so much of his two lawyers who he doesn't know from a hole in the wall regardless, but about information he provides being used against him while in Guantanamo. Their opposing counsel does not have any easier a task. He, Marine Corps officer Stuart Couch, does have a personal vested interest in the case in knowing some who perished in 911 in direct actions by the terrorists that day, but he knows that his personal feelings need to be put aside for him to win the case based on the evidence. It is that evidence which the government is hesitating on providing and if the lawyers on both sides can get their hands on the materials may eventually dictate what happens with the case and Slahi's fate.—Huggo
November 2001, Mohamedou Ould Slahi (Tahar Rahim) is in Mauritania, two months after 9/11. Mohamedou frequently travels to Germany and other countries and helps his countrymen to escape poverty. A Mauritanian policeman tells Mohamedou that Americans want to have a talk with him, about the location of his missing cousin Mahfouz. Mohamedou agrees to go with them.
Albuquerque, New Mexico, February 2005, lawyer Nancy Hollander (Jodie Foster) is told by French lawyer Emmanuel (Denis Menochet) that a lawyer from Mauritania approached his firm in Paris on behalf of Mohamedou's family. They haven't seen Mohamedou since he was arrested three years ago and only just found out in a newspaper that he is being held by the US at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and is accused of being one of the organizers of 9/11. Emmanuel asks Nancy to look into it because she has security clearance from a previous case and can ask questions he can't. Nancy agrees to check.
Nancy gets a confirmation of Mohamedou's presence at Guantanamo Bay. She convinces her partners to let her take this case as a Pro-Bono as US should not be holding people without a trial.. and at Gitmo, there are 700 of them.
At a Naval Law Conference in New Orleans, Marine Prosecutor Stuart Couch (Benedict Cumberbatch) is told by Colonel Bill Seidel (Corey Johnson), about Mohamedou case they want him to prosecute. They insist that the public wants swift justice (Death penalty) for 9/11 and there is a backlog of cases that needs to be cleared. They say Mohamedou fought with Al-Qaeda in the 90s and then recruited for them in Germany, and says it was Mohamedou who recruited the terrorist who flew Stu's friend's plane into the tower.
Nancy and Teri (Shailene Woodley) fly down to Guantánamo to meet Mohamedou. Nancy explains that the US supreme court is admitting Habeas Corpus petitions for the Gitmo prisoners, which means US Govt has to produce all evidence against them and the SC will decide whether to keep the prisoner locked up or not. Mohamedou agrees to hire them as his lawyers, but he still hasn't been charged with anything at all. He says that since he is cooperating, the prison authorities have given him some privileges. Mohamedou says once he took a call from his cousin, which apparently was made using Bin Laden's phone. Nancy encourages Mohamedou to write down everything that took place in the last 3 years.Meanwhile, Stu tells his team to go through all the intel reports they have to corroborate the story against Mohamedou.
Meanwhile any notes taken from Git Bay have to be given back to prison authorities, and they transfer it to a secure facility in Virginia. Even there, they can't take any material out and can only review the material at the facility itself. Nancy files a freedom of information request to get access to the case files, and she is eventually sent several boxes. but all information in the boxes is retracted (its blacked out, as classified)
Nancy finds out through Mohamedou's letter which she received from him.Stu looks at the intel reports, To make things difficult, the interrogators left the dates off when they filed their intel reports. Stu meets Neil Buckland (Zachary Levi), who was his classmate, and his name appears on all the intel reports. Neil asks Stu to look at the MFRs. But Stu cannot get his hands on them, despite going through all official channels. Neil asks Stu to approach the General commanding the Gitmo facility directly. But the General stonewalls Stu as well. Stu goes back to Neil and demands the MFRs, but Neil says someone has to answer for 9/11. Eventually Neil relents and gives Stu access to the MFRs
Stu looks at the MFR (Memorandum for the Record), showing what exactly happened.The letter and reports talk about enhanced torture (Kept in cold cells, sleep deprivation, water boarding, kept in stress positions for 20 hrs) and treatment including sexual assault with Mohamedou by the Guantanamo guards as ordered by General Mandel. Mohamedou says that he did go to Afghanistan, but when they were at war against the Soviets. He fought alongside the Americans in defeating the commies. His cousin called him from Osama's phone about his mother and transferred $5K for her treatment at the hospital.
In 2006, Nancy goes to court to get the documents she needs to prepare her case. Mohamedou has already been in custody for 4+ years now. They get the materials in 10 days. Teri finds that he confessed to everything.Turns out, General Mandel threatened with arrest and sexual assault of his mother. Thus, to save his mother, Mohamedou gave false confession about being a terrorist.Stu refuses to prosecute the case.
December 2009, at trial Mohamedou is able to testify over video link to the court. March 2010, Mohamedou gets a letter and finds out his case was successful, and the judge has ordered that he be released. Text is shown telling us that it would actually be another 7 years before he was released, because the government appealed. His mother died in 2013, and he never saw her again. He was finally released in 2016, having spent 14 years in prison without ever being charged.
Finally, footage of the real Mohamedou arriving back in Mauritania is shown. Texts are shown, telling us Mohamedou lives in Mauritania and got married in 2018 to an American lawyer. They have a baby son, Ahmed, but haven't been able to live together as a family and are hoping a country will grant them protection and citizenship.Nancy and Teri are still lawyers working against injustice, and we see footage of Mohamedou giving them necklaces with their names in Arabic.
