GUANTANAMO ART'S GUANTANAMO

2017 : MOATH -AL-ALWI'S prayer rug is stained with paint. Every day, he wakes before dawn and works for hours on an elaborate model ship made from scavenged materials -

One of dozens of sculptures he has created since he was first detained at the the Guantanamo Bay military prison in 2002. Mr. al-Alwi is considered a low value detainee, but is being held indefinitely. His art is his refuge.

The sails of Mr. al-Alwi's ships are made from scraps of old T-shirts. A bottle-cap wheel steers a rudder made with pieces of  shampoo -bottle, turned with delicate cables of dental floss.

The only tool  Mr. al-Alwi uses to make these intricate vessels is a pair of a tiny, snub-nosed scissors, the kind a pre-schooler might use. It is all he is allowed in his cell.

Three of  Mr. aI-Alwi's model ships are currently on view in an exhibit at John Jay College of  Criminal Justice in New York City, along with 32 other paintings and sculpture from other prisoners or former detainees.

My colleagues and I curated this exhibit after learning that many many lawyers who have worked with detainees have file cabinets stuffed full of prisoners' art.

In the atmosphere of  surveillance  and control that is  Guantanamo, these  artworks are among the only ways that detainees  have to communicate with the   outside world.

November 2017 : But earlier in the weeks, the  Miami Herald reprted a change in military policy:

The art of Mr. al-Alwi and the other remaining Guantanamo prisoners is now U.S. government  property. The art will no longer leave prison confines and can now be legally destroyed.

Attorneys for  several prisoners were told  the military intends to  burn the art.

Art censorship and destruction are tactics fit for terrorist regimes, not for the U.S. military. The art poses no security threat :

It is screened by experts who study the material for secret messages before it leaves the camp, and no art by current prisoners   can be sold. 
Guantanamo detainees deserve basic human rights as they await trial.

Taking away ownership of their art is both incredibly petty and utterly cruel.

Through this art, you can see what  Guantanamo prisoners dream of in their cells, jeld for years without trial or without even having charges filed against them.

The pain the things they wish they could see :  sunsets, meadows cityscapes and their homes. But most of all,  they paint and sculpt the sea, rendering beaches, waves and boats in delicate colors and shapes.

The sadness of the publishing continues.

The World Students Society thanks author and researcher Assistant Professor Erin L. Thompson John Jay College of  Criminal Justice.