Düsseldorf appears in the account not as Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s home, but as the place where his brother Yahdih lives and where the editor meets him. The city becomes a vantage point on the family network spanning Germany and Mauritania: meals and photographs there lead to stories of relatives, care responsibilities, and efforts to secure Mohamedou’s release.

A Meeting Place in the North African Community

Yahdih still lives in Düsseldorf. The editor meets him over several meals at a Moroccan restaurant on Ellerstraße, described as a center of the city’s North African community. Yahdih introduces friends, mainly young Moroccans, many of whom, like him, are German citizens. Among themselves they speak Arabic, French, and German; with the editor, they try English and laugh at one another’s mistakes. The scene presents Düsseldorf as a place of social connection across languages and backgrounds, rather than as a mere point on the family’s map.

One meal turns into an extended family-portrait session. Yahdih and the editor sort and label photographs of siblings, in-laws, nieces, and nephews, many of whom live in the family’s multigenerational household in Nouakchott. The photographs make the distance between Düsseldorf and the Mauritanian household tangible, while the work of identifying each person shows how actively Yahdih maintains those connections.

Family Responsibilities and Advocacy

Mohamedou had described his lack of interest in al-Qaeda after returning to Germany by saying he had a large family to feed. The account calls the figure an exaggeration, but one close to the scale of his obligations. By the time of the Düsseldorf meetings, Yahdih carries a substantial share of that responsibility. His life there is thus connected to relatives who remain in Mauritania, not separated from them.

Because activism can be risky in Mauritania, Yahdih has also taken the lead in advocating for Mohamedou’s release. He shows the editor YouTube videos of a demonstration he helped organize outside the Presidential Palace in Nouakchott; a parliament minister is among the speakers. The sequence links private family care, represented by the photographs, to public action on behalf of an imprisoned brother.

Communication Across Distance

The family’s communication with Mohamedou depends on calls arranged under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. These connect the household in Nouakchott with Yahdih in Germany. A few days before the editor’s visit, Mohamedou had been allowed one of the calls, which at that time took place twice a year. Yahdih had recently written to ask that the number increase to three annually. Düsseldorf is therefore part of a dispersed family’s practical communications network, as well as the setting where the editor learns about its everyday ties and its campaign for release.