‘The Mauritanian’ rekindles debate over Gitmo detainees’ torture – with 40 still held there

Lisa Hajjar, University of California Santa Barbara “The Mauritanian,” directed by Kevin Macdonald, is the first feature film to dramatize how the war on terror became a war in court. As a sociologist of law and a journalist, I have spent the past two decades researching and writing about the kinds of legal battles the film accurately portrays. My research has included 13 trips to observe military commission trials at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The film stars Tahar Rahim as a Mauritanian named Mohamedou Ould Slahi who is captured and held at the Guantanamo detention center, …