My name is Shaker. I am also known as Sawad Al-Madany because I was born in the Holy City of Medina. Please can you remember these names for me, because I hardly can anymore.
Here, they call me 239. In fact, I call myself 239. It feels so strange to witness my name slipping away from me. I can't do anything about it.
I wonder how long it is going to take for all of us here in Guantánamo to slip away from the world's memory?
I have not lost hope. No, I have not! Or have I? I am not sure. But I am still writing: is this not a sign of hope?
Yes, we have lost years of our lives here - and some (three times as many as have been convicted) have actually died.
We have lost our sanity, our health, our humanity and our dignity. Yes, we seem to have lost everything.
But I believe we are gradually rediscovering hope and, with hope, we will relocate our lives and everything else that is meaningful.
Meanwhile our tormentors are losing everything and, the more they lose, the more they torment us. I can't describe what they are doing. The world must hasten to compel the US government to solve this dilemma before it is too late. Candles cannot burn forever.
Shaker relayed this blog post to his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith in an unclassified phone call.