The Family He Left Behind

This flow follows the emotional distance between Slahi and his family, from an abrupt separation to limited contact and his mother’s death.

increasingBearing stren­gth in each eventdecreasing

A Mother’s Farewell

Departure and Promise The First Journey When Mohamedou Ould Slahi left Mauritania for Germany on a scholarship, his mother Maryem Mint El Wadia was distressed by the separation. He was the first family member to travel by plane and study abroad. Family Hopes His education carried a practical hope: that he would build a career and help support the household. The separation was understood as temporary and purposeful. A Bond Across Distance The family’s expectations shaped Slahi’s sense of responsibility. Years later, the abrupt disappearance from his home would transform chosen distance into enforced separation.

Return to His Family

Home After Years Abroad A Long Absence Ends After years overseas, Slahi returned to Mauritania and lived with family while rebuilding his working life. Seeing his mother and siblings again made the homecoming feel like a return to the life they had planned. A Brief Reprieve Following detention and questioning in Senegal and Mauritania, he was released and reunited with his family. The family welcomed him and imagined a future in which he could stay close. Fragile Happiness He found work and enjoyed seeing his mother each morning. The short period of domestic normality made the next disappearance especially devastating.

Taken Without Goodbye

A Family Left Waiting An Ordinary Departure When police called Slahi away for questioning, he told his mother not to worry and expected to return. Instead, he was secretly transferred out of the country. Silence at Home His family was not told where he had gone. His brother Hamoud brought clothes and money to a Mauritanian prison, unaware that Slahi was already in Jordan and then Bagram. The Discovery The family learned much later that he was in Guantánamo through a newspaper account. The years of false reassurance turned absence into an additional injury for those left behind.

The First Family Letter

A Message Across the Wire Years Without Contact Slahi spent years unable to communicate normally with his family. A letter said to come from a relative proved to be an intelligence fabrication, deepening his fear that even family contact was being manipulated. A Real Message In February 2004, he received a Red Cross message from his mother. It was short and had been written months earlier, but it carried the unmistakable emotional weight of a real family voice. Reading and Rereading He smelled the paper and read the words repeatedly, caught between laughter and tears. The message could not immediately become a conversation, but it restored a fragile connection to home.

A Mother’s Final Years

Contact, Then Loss Rare Calls The family’s first authorized call came in 2008, more than six years after Slahi disappeared. Later calls allowed relatives in Mauritania and his brother Yahdih in Germany to speak with him, but they remained infrequent. A Familiar Conversation Family members shared news about marriages, children, and everyday life. Slahi’s mother was overjoyed to hear him, while he tried to remain connected to the family he had missed growing older. Death Far Away Maryem Mint El Wadia died in March 2013 while her son remained imprisoned. The limited calls had briefly bridged the distance but could not give him the chance to return or say goodbye in person.

1988

February 2000

November 2001

February 2004

2008–March 2013