Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo

A documentary film by Polly Nash, with Andy Worthington, 74 mins

Co-sponsored by The World Can't Wait

Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo is a new documentary telling the story of Guantánamo with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening, and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism.

The film is based around interviews with former prisoners, lawyers for the prisoners, journalist and author Andy Worthington, with appearances from Guantánamo’s former Muslim chaplain James Yee, a London-based imam, and the British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.

Focusing on the stories of three particular prisoners -- Shaker Aamer
(who is still held), Binyam Mohamed (who was released in February 2009) and Omar Deghayes -- Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo provides a powerful rebuke to those who believe that Guantánamo holds “the worst of the worst” and that the Bush administration was justified in responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by holding men neither as prisoners of war, protected by the Geneva Conventions, nor as criminal suspects with habeas corpus rights, but as “illegal enemy combatants” with no rights whatsoever.

About the Filmmakers

Polly Nash is a lecturer at the London College Of Communications (LCC), part of the University of the Arts, London, and has worked in film and TV for 20 years.

Andy Worthington is a journalist and blogger, and the author of three books, including The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees.

Last updated: 2009-10-21 11:25:45