A young Muslim man who is on hunger strike in Guantanamo Bay, despite being cleared for release in 2007, is the subject of a new animated film designed to draw attention to the personalities behind those kept in the Cuba detention centre.
Frenchman Nabil Hadjarab was sold by bounty hunters to US forces nine years ago, but according to justice campaigners Reprieve it was a case of mistaken identity.
The video highlighting his case directed by Nicole Paglia, has been backed by RSC andThe Walking Dead actor David Morrissey, who did the voice over for the film.
It explains what the captives' hobbies and favourite foods were before detention in Guantanamo, and Hadjarab's experience of force-feeding and hunger strikes.
"One of the biggest challenges Nabil faces is that he has been cut off from the world and his voice has been silenced," Morrissey wrote in a blog for HuffPost UK.
"I passionately believe that everyone deserves someone to stand up for them, to fight their corner. The human rights charity Reprieve and I have made this film so that people can hear Nabil’s own words and understand who he is."
Cori Crider, Hadjarab's lawyer at Reprieve, said: “This hunger strike is the worst crisis in Obama’s stewardship of Guantánamo.
"We welcomed his recent pledges to do more to close the prison - but without concrete action fine words are meaningless to starving prisoners.
" In my six years seeing Nabil at Guantánamo he looks like he has aged twenty. He is still a young man, just – but twice-daily force-feeding is sapping what is left of his youth.
"He is losing hope – and so are his French family. At next week’s G8 summit President Hollande must urge Obama to send Nabil home, before it is too late.”
More than 16,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org calling for Hadjarab's release.