Mahvish Khan has spent a lot of time at Guantanamo Bay lately. Born in 1978, Mahvish is the daughter of Pashtun Pakistani parents who met while in medical school in Peshawar. Mahvish is a US citizen, speaks Pashto, practices Islam, and studies law at the University of Miami.
It’s clearly been a heavy few years for the sister, and in response, she took a remarkably deep, courageous course of action. She found out which law firms were representing Guantanamo detainees, and pestered them to take her on as an assistant and interpreter. She found an interested firm and underwent a 6-month security check.
She’s now been to Guantanamo nine times. Her first-person account of visiting the detainees, published in Sunday’s Washington Post, is a beautiful, powerful piece of testimony, made all the more so by the poignancy of her cultural connection to the diminished men she found.
At 80, Haji Nusrat — detainee No. 1009 — is Guantanamo Bay’s oldest prisoner. A stroke 15 years ago left him partly paralyzed. He cannot stand up without assistance and hobbles to the bathroom behind a walker. Despite his paralysis, his swollen legs and feet are tightly cuffed and shackled to the floor. (…)
In the middle of our meeting, he says to me: ” Bachay .” My child. “Look at my white beard. They have brought me here with a white beard. I have done nothing at all. I have not said a single word against the Americans.” (…)
The old man looks at me. “You are a daughter to me,” he says. “Think of me as a father.” I nod, aligning and realigning pistachio shells on the table as I interpret.
As the meeting ends and we collect our things to go, the old man opens his arms to me and I embrace him. For several moments, he prays for me as Peter watches: “Insha’allah, God willing, you will find a home that makes you happy. Insha’allah, you will be a mother one day. . . . “
The sister is no romantic. She states her belief that the fifteen men her firm is representing are guilty of no wrong-doing, but she limits her claim to those men. She paints a subtle picture of life on the base, in which the U.S. soldiers are pleasant and welcoming. It’s a fascinating account of a place out of space and time, deliberately established and kept that way, sad, tragic and in no small measure absurd.
“She states her belief that the fifteen men her firm is representing are guilty of no wrong-doing, but she limits her claim to those men.”
Ofcourse she does. I would have expected no less from the firm. After all, whoever heard of a law firm defending the guilty?
Good piece. Nice to see you blogging here again Siddhartha and Amardeep!
After all, whoever heard of a law firm defending the guilty?
Precisely.
That is about as unheard of as governments and militaries ever rounding up/arresting the innocents.
Nice post Siddhartha, and a beautifully evocative excerpt.
For those of you who are convinced about the guilt of the guantanamo detainees (NotPC ?), I highly recommend the public radio show This American Life‘s take on it called Habeas Schmabeas.
great story siddharta.
Great to see you and Amardeep on as permanent bloggers too!
intensely humanizing story by mahvish khan. thanks for bringing it to our attn siddhartha.
Doesn’t Mahvish sound like a contraction of our fellow mutineer?
Manish + Vij = Mahvij !
or maybe, it’s the Maha-vij.
Yay Siddhartha & Amardeep!!
So, Siddhartha — any more radio appearances? Enjoyed hearing you last week on WNYC….
Wow, you’re a Head Mutineer now too? Great!
“wilting dreams at gitmo”, which Ajju posted in the news section, was also unsettling.
yay well done for comin onto SM! what an awesome post to start with too.
so many people have been caught in the crossfire of 9/11…hearing about that poor 80 year old man makes me sick that in the 21st century, after world wars and genocides – and human rights conventions and anti-torture agreements (heralded by countries like the us)…
we’ve ended up back at the square one situation of fearing for our safety because we’re brown. its just really scary if you’ve grown up in the west and never had to face much racism and then it all comes flooding back… even if its just in little ways…
i just feel empathy not just for horrific cases like the guantanamo detainees (and btw the book ‘guantanamo’ is an excellent journalistic account of the situation by a human rights journo) but also for anyone who’s developed that new tense feeling when going into an airport or felt the stares/had to answer ignoramus questions about race, religion or heritage in this scary new world we live in.
(‘Are you like an Afghan?’someone asked me the day after september 11th. i live in nz and afghans, unlike afghanis, are a special type of biscuit.
‘Nope!’ i replied ‘I’m actually, like, an Oreo?’).
Can just one person explain to me why this American administration is so stupid and blinkered that it cannot see the extraordinary level of damage that it is doing to the image of America by maintaining this prison camp outside all boundaries of international law? The image of arrogance and hypocrisy that it perpetuates? Leave aside the human rights of 80 year old grandfathers being held there – why is Bush such an idiot? Do Americans not feel conscious about this?
Welcome Siddhartha. I look forward to more wonderful thought provoking posts from you.
A touching post indeed. They should close down Guantanamo Bay prison and set all detainess free. Let us all make a case for the detainee’s right to return to the profession of their choice.
My cynicism was aimed at the law firm, which claimed that all their clients are innocent. I too believe that most of the people locked up at gitmo are likely inocent. That is why scores have been processed, deemed harmless and repatriated to their native country. Why doesn’t anybody here mention that factoid?
Blue Mountain – Wonder what the GITMO critics will say now? One thing for sure – None of those who rejoined Muhammad’s [PBUH] army were represented by Ms.Khan’s law firm.
You either believe in the rule of law or you don’t – what do you believe in? Should the Indian government lock up Hindu maniacs who might be at risk of toasting Muslims in the next genocide squirt in Gujarat as a preventive measure? Or should the rule of law apply to all equally? So what is there to say?
Blackbelt – A more illogical analogy I have not seen. Gujarat, while reprehensible, was an internal/civil issue. Whereas the GITMO detainees are all prisoners of war. Btw, if it was upto me, I would gladly order the detention of the Hindu fanatics, if deemed planning to harm Muslims. I would also order the detention of any Kashmiri Muslims who were planning to harm Kashmiri Hindus. Maybe then I could have prevented this very tragic and reprehensible event from occuring.
Yay Sid!!!
I’m glad you’ve joined the ranks of permanent!I’m a fan of your words!
Sid!! So glad you’re back!
What a heartbreaking post.
Huzzah for Siddhartha!
The logical (or rather illogical) conclusion from your posts being that no Muslim child practices their faith ‘peacefully and unintrusively’..since you want ‘every’ Muslim child to have a ‘bed-wetting fear’ of the USA. Sounds like someone had issues with bladder control during their childhood…
I am glad to see Mahvish using her abilities to help get the message out about the detainees. Many people in America do not see the problems that are still present but hidden. Many people have gone on with their lives and either don’t know or have forgotten about the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. She is a wonderful person with the heart, ability and fortitude to help get the message to the American people.
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