What: Guantanamo: 23 Years of America’s Ongoing War on Justice and Humanity – a talk with Mansoor Adayfi

Where: Faculty of Sociology UW, Lecture hall, room 18

When: 10.10 18:50

Cover painting credit: Sabri AlQurashi.

Mansoor Adayfi (GTMO441) is a writer, artist, human rights advocate, and former Guantanamo detainee. Kidnapped at age 18 and sold to the CIA, he was detained in Guantánamo Bay for nearly 15 years without charges or trial. He was resettled to Serbia in 2016 under an agreement between the US and Serbian governments. In 2021, he earned a bachelor’s degree in management, completing a thesis titled „Rehabilitation and Integration of Former Guantanamo Prisoners into Social Life and the Labor Market,” which became the foundation for the Guantanamo Survivors Fund, co-founded with American lawyers and US-based NGOs. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Project Management.

His first book, „Don’t Forget Us Here: Lost and Found at Guantanamo,” was published in 2021 by Hachette and received critical acclaim.His second work, the audiobook „Letters from Guantanamo,” was published in 2024 and was recognized as Audible’s Best Audiobook of the Year.

Mansoor’s writings also appear in the New York Times, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Middle East Monitor, The New Arab, and Common Dreams. He wrote the introduction, „Ode to the Sea: Art from Guantánamo Bay,” for the 2017–2018 exhibition at John Jay College of Justice and contributed to scholarly works including „Witnessing Torture” and ECCHR’s „Rupture and Reckoning – Guantanamo Turns 20.”

He has worked in film and media, adapting his work for television and film. His advocacy includes organizing the 2023 „Close Guantanamo” conference at the European Parliament and curating art exhibitions. He currently serves as Guantanamo Project Coordinator for CAGE International, continuing his work on human rights, the closure of Guantanamo Bay, and the pursuit of justice and accountability.