{"id":16171,"date":"2021-11-04T10:01:12","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T10:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nite.nl\/?post_type=targetgroup&p=16171"},"modified":"2021-11-04T10:23:59","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T10:23:59","slug":"interviewmohamedou","status":"publish","type":"targetgroup","link":"https:\/\/loveisabitch.nite.nl\/en\/?targetgroup=interviewmohamedou","title":{"rendered":"Freedom and Forgiveness\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mohamedou\u00a0Ould\u00a0Slahi\u00a0was arrested in his home country\u00a0of\u00a0Mauritania in late 2001, a few months after nine-eleven,\u00a0kidnapped\u00a0and taken\u00a0to Jordan. Eight months later he was transferred to Guant\u00e1namo Bay, the U.S. military prison in Cuba, where he endured numerous tortures and was held for fourteen years without ever hearing what he was accused of.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n


\nDuring his detention, he began to write down his experiences, in English, the language he learned in prison. He managed to get the manuscript out through his lawyers, and in 2015 his\u00a0Guant\u00e1namo Diary<\/i>\u00a0was published, though heavily redacted by U.S. intelligence agencies. After his release in 2016,\u00a0Mohamedou\u00a0worked to restore his original words and in 2017, the repaired edition was brought out. The book became an international bestseller and has also been made into a movie: early this year\u00a0The Mauritanian<\/i>\u00a0was released, starring\u00a0Tahar\u00a0Rahim and Jodie\u00a0Foster.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0a\u00a0writer-in-residence with the Noord\u00a0Nederlands\u00a0Toneel\u00a0and Club Guy & Roni,\u00a0Mohamedou\u00a0wrote the\u00a0script for\u00a0the dance performance\u00a0FREEDOM<\/i>, which will premiere on October\u00a016. Because if anyone knows what freedom is\u2026<\/p>\n

[Yvon] I read your book, and I couldn’t stop crying. I felt so much shame for what was done to you, and it amazed me how you remained so human,\u00a0considering\u00a0all the humiliation\u00a0and torture\u00a0you suffered. At one point, you\u00a0cried\u00a0when\u00a0you saw\u00a0a guard\u00a0get\u00a0hurt. You wondered how you could feel pity for someone who treated you so badly. I wonder that too. How is it possible to feel compassion for someone who blatantly shows no compassion for you?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Mohamedou] This is a difficult question; I don’t know the real answer. I think upbringing, personal beliefs, and resilience play a big role in how we respond to external circumstances. And what we consider important. My priority in life is to be a nice person.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Y] You were deprived of your freedom for a very long time: what does freedom mean to you?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[M] Freedom can be in a lot of things. And freedom is something different for everyone and in every situation. I often tell the story I once heard, about a man with a bladder problem, who when asked if he had ever witnessed a miracle, replied:\u00a0\u2018I just peed!\u2019\u00a0Being able to urinate, for him at that moment, was the ultimate freedom.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not always but often, freedom is within reach. But you can’t find it until you know what you need. For one who holds grudges, freedom is to be found in forgiveness. Because resentment, even if there is a good reason for it because someone has done something very bad to you, enslaves you. You chain yourself to the person who hurt you. It\u00a0is\u00a0a very true saying:\u00a0\u2018Holding on to anger\u00a0is like drinking poison and\u00a0expecting\u00a0the other person to die.\u2019\u00a0Resentment and\u00a0hatred\u00a0are self-destructive emotions and a heavy burden to carry. I came to understand that I could free my soul from that heavy burden, by forgiving. It was truly an\u00a0enlightenment;\u00a0I had everything, it was there all along, but I just didn’t see it yet.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lebanese-Canadian activist and writer Najwa\u00a0Zebian\u00a0described\u00a0it\u00a0so\u00a0beautifully: ‘Today I decided to forgive you. Not because you apologized, or because you acknowledged the pain you caused me, but because my soul deserves peace.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I had known that quote before I was kidnapped.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Y] In her book,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The Choice,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0Edith Eva Eger, a Hungarian writer who survived Auschwitz by dancing for Mengele, says exactly the same thing. As a psychologist, she helped her clients find freedom\u00a0through\u00a0forgiveness.\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[M] I would love to read that book.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Y] I\u00a0would\u00a0love to give it to you.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[M] Then let’s test your karma and hope I can come to Holland soon. Inshallah.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Y] The dance performance\u00a0<\/span><\/b>FREEDOM<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0by Club Guy & Roni is based on your\u00a0story\u00a0and you have been invited as\u00a0an artist-in-residence\u00a0by the Noord\u00a0Nederlands\u00a0Toneel. How did you come into contact with Guy Weizman?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[M] I was introduced to him by singer and artist\u00a0Rajae\u00a0El\u00a0Mouhandiz.\u00a0<\/span>She had read my book and we\u00a0connected\u00a0through social media. We became\u00a0so\u00a0close right away;\u00a0I\u00a0think of her as\u00a0a dear friend.\u00a0She\u00a0is\u00a0the cause of all the beautiful things that are happening for me in the Netherlands.\u00a0One of these things\u00a0is our\u00a0adaptation of\u00a0<\/span>Amazing Grace<\/span><\/i><\/a>. In prison I\u00a0learned about that beautiful hymn by\u00a0John Newton. The words spoke to the pain I felt in my heart and I began to translate them into Arabic. It was a challenge to stay true to the original\u00a0words while respecting\u00a0the Arabic meter\u00a0and the Mauritanian Sufi\u00a0undertone.\u00a0After I\u00a0met\u00a0Rajae, we decided to\u00a0release a new version using\u00a0my translation\u00a0around the original\u00a0hymn,<\/span>\u00a0sung by\u00a0Rajae\u00a0and singer\u00a0Taali\u00a0from New York and accompanied by an orchestra and a choir and the dancers of Club Guy & Roni. On September 11, the recording was published online.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Y] Before your detention you were a computer engineer, now you are a writer and a celebrity; your book is a bestseller, a movie has been released, you appear in the media. How do you deal with this?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[M] I’m very grateful for what’s happening.\u00a0Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that my cause would become so well-known and a reason for so many people to stand up for democracy and human rights.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I was kidnapped by the secret police\u00a0in\u00a0total silence in front of my mother. I\u00a0can never get that image out of my\u00a0head\u00a0of\u00a0her\u00a0holding\u00a0her prayer beads\u00a0and saying prayers as the\u00a0car\u00a0drove off with me.\u00a0Of course, at that time my captors had no idea that the world would know about me.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Y] Do you have any plans or dreams for the future?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[M] My dream is to be able to write and create in\u00a0a\u00a0free\u00a0country,\u00a0without fear of persecution or kidnapping. I would\u00a0really\u00a0like\u00a0to\u00a0get\u00a0the\u00a0help\u00a0of\u00a0good\u00a0doctors and psychiatrists\u00a0to deal\u00a0with my recurring night\u00a0terrors\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0physical\u00a0pain I sometimes suffer. I\u00a0hope that the Netherlands\u00a0will\u00a0stand\u00a0with\u00a0me and\u00a0with\u00a0human rights and grant\u00a0me a\u00a0visa.\u00a0But I will always come back to Mauritania to get my inspiration\u00a0from the\u00a0dunes and the vastness of the\u00a0desert.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yvon van Apeldoorn, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":15961,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"domain":[],"class_list":["post-16171","targetgroup","type-targetgroup","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFreedom and Forgiveness\u00a0\u00a0 - Nite<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/loveisabitch.nite.nl\/en\/?targetgroup=interviewmohamedou\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Freedom and Forgiveness\u00a0\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mohamedou\u00a0Ould\u00a0Slahi\u00a0was arrested in his home country\u00a0of\u00a0Mauritania in late 2001, a few months after nine-eleven,\u00a0kidnapped\u00a0and taken\u00a0to Jordan. 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