Mohamedou Ould Slahi, NYU Abu Dhabi Institute for Peace

I participated in “Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Dialogue,” a conference organized by the Institute for Peace at NYU Abu Dhabi. I joined Prof. Erin Pettigrew in moderating the opening panel, “Unveiling Injustice: The Journey of Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini,” a conversation with Mohamedou Ould Slahi on detention, survival, testimony, and the difficult work of dialogue after injustice. The conference was opened by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ouided Bouchamaoui, Professor of Practice of Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s story is one of the most compelling and internationally significant testimonies of the post-9/11 era. Detained at Guantánamo Bay without charge for years and subjected to extreme abuse, he later transformed that experience into a powerful act of witness through his memoir Guantánamo Diary (2015). Moderating this conversation was an opportunity to engage questions of narrative, memory, justice, and reconciliation in an exceptional setting that brought literary inquiry into dialogue with peacebuilding, diplomacy, and public ethics.