From captivity to creativity: Pakistani prisoners at Gitmo find freedom in full | World news

When Ahmed Rabbani was fully satisfied with his artistic desires during his 20 years of imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay, he turned to whatever was at hand – dirt, coffee grounds and even spices such as turmeric from the prison.

“By painting, I will feel myself outside Guantanamo,” a 53-year-old Pakistani said this week at an exhibition of his work in the port city of Karachi.

“Painting is everything to me there.”

Rabbani was detained by Pakistani authorities in September 2002 and handed over to the US Central Intelligence Agency for a reward of $5,000.

He was “sold” on the basis that he was the famous hero known as Hassan Ghul, but Rabbani always insisted that it was a case of mistaken identity.

He was also accused of recruiting his brother, Muhammed, into extremist groups.

The two have never been charged or prosecuted during their two years in detention, and were only released in February this year.

“America has paid good money and does not want to be taken for a ride,” Rabbani’s lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, wrote in the exhibition’s journal.

“Something neither he nor I knew until the US Senate published the Rendition Report in 2014 was that Ghul was arrested and brought to the same prison – only to be released back to Pakistan for ‘cooperation’.

“While Ghul returned to his terrorist ways and was killed in a drone strike in 2012, Ahmed had a one-way trip to Guantanamo Bay.”

Extract from coffee, turmeric –

Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where his parents worked, Rabbani returned to Karachi as a teenager and was a taxi driver at the time of his arrest.

Fully in Arabic, it specializes in guiding visitors from the Middle East – a factor which contributes to its secrecy.

While imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, painting was an obsession for Rabbani, although years spent on hunger strike meant he was often too weak to even pick up a brush.

If you have completed the application, it will be repaired.

“I will find and turn discarded items or torn clothes into canvas,” he said.

“Sometimes I draw from coffee, sometimes from turmeric.”

In “The Unforgotten Moon: Freedom Art from Guantanamo Bay”, around a dozen pieces Rabbani was allowed to take from the prison are on display – alongside works by local artists whose images are “re-imagined ” they accepted.

“He is someone who has lost a lot of his life, so to produce images of this quality is a miracle … it is remarkable,” said Natasha Malik, curator and organizer of the exhibition.

“Illustrated with Ahmed’s unmistakable artwork, the artists are showing his creativity and creative expression, by recreating work that the public has no intention of seeing.”

Sporting a salt and pepper beard and wearing a traditional shalwar kameez and waistcoat, Rabbani was the center of attention at the exhibition opening.

With a smile and a twinkle in his eye, he made wonderful plans for the years to come.

First in publishing a cookbook – he also developed a passion for cooking while in Guantanamo.

“It will have his diaries in it – but in a cookbook format,” Stafford Smith told AFP.

He then wants to open a restaurant based on the recipes he learned while in prison – hoping to use the money raised from his art sales.

Reflecting his hopes and despair, his artwork is a remarkable achievement for someone who only did art in school.

Some of the pieces are clear expressions of desires for freedom – nature seen through narrow openings, flying birds and endless seas.

Another shows a cage with bright orange fish — the color of the uniform that Guantanamo prisoners are forced to wear.

“I spent many years in orange,” he said.

“I never accept their rules, I will always break their rules.”