#Thread 1/8
20 years ago today, just 6 days after 9/11, George W. Bush gave the CIA broad powers to "Capture and Detain" anyone in what would become the #WarOnTerror
2/8 Weeks later, I was sold to the CIA and sent to a black site in Afghanistan where I was tortured along with many others until I confessed that I was someone I wasn't just to stop the pain. This is what I wrote in my book
3/8 I was then sent to #Guantánamo, where I spent over 14 years as a prisoner of the US. I didn't have rights, I didn't have an attorney or legal representation until 2009. I was never charged with a crime. I was never told why I was being held. I was only detainee ISN 441.
4/8 For 9 years I lived mostly in solitary confinement, where sometimes the only one around to talk to was an Iguana I called Princess. @sarahmirk abramsbooks.com/product/guanta…
5/8 My family didn't even know I was still alive until 2007.
I wasn’t the only one who was disappeared like this. 780 men were held at #Guantanamo. Thousands more were kidnapped to the CIA black sites around the world.
6/8 9/11 was a tragedy and only to be misused to create bigger tragedies that would continue for 20 years. It’s time to make justice and #closeguantanamo once and for all, to commomerta this anniversary War On Terror and to remember millions of people affected across the glob.
we'll continue fighting for justice and accountability.I joined CAGE to do exactly that,since then we’ve launched The International Witness Campaign alongside over 50 global NGOs to commemorate the victims of the War on Terror and ensure we never forget until justice is achieved
1/8 20 years ago, I heard about 9/11 on the radio in Afghanistan. At 18, I couldn’t imagine buildings so tall or why someone would kill so many people. Soon after, I was sold to the US & sent to #Guantanamo. 8 years later, when I saw video of 9/11 for the first time,
2/8 I wept for all the innocent lives that lost since 2001.
I never could have imagined that this tragedy would be used to justify keeping me and hundreds of others locked up and tortured for nearly 15 years.
3/8 This is what I wrote about the day in my book, DON'T FORGET US HERE, LOST AND FOUND AT GUANTÁNAMO.