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Reading Harry Potter in Guantánamo

By H. Candace Gorman

The prisoners at Guantánamo Bay—or Azkaban, as one of my clients, a Harry Potter fan, calls it—have had no access to a hearing in a court of law. Instead, Guantánamo’s inmates are subjected to two kangaroo procedures: Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) and Administrative Review Boards (ARBs). The CSRTs are the tribunals that determine whether an individual is an “enemy combatant.”… return to article

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    While I enjoyed reading this article and applaud the broader point Ms. Gordan is trying to make, I am a bit confused by a small technicality.  Voldemort did not run the prison of Azkaban in the Harry Potter series, in fact many of his trusted allies were imprisoned there.  So Bush being Voldemort doesn’t really correlate nicely into Guantanamo being Azkaban.  I feel like a pretty big nerd right now but I was just wondering if I am confused or missed the point of the article or if it was simply an error in translation on the author’s part.

    United States Posted by kurka on Jun 17, 2007 at 6:07 PM
    Page 1 of 1 pages

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Article Appeared in this Issue

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Also by H. Candace Gorman
  • A Kinder, Gentler Torture
  • The Hippocratic Oath Dies in Gitmo
  • Catch-22 in the 21st Century
    Government censors are making like Joseph Heller's character Yossarian and blacking out random information in letters from Guantánamo that has nothing to do with "national security"
  • Third Time’s the Charm?
    The military didn't even bother to retain most of the documents from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals conducted in 2004, so the government has no documents showing any reason for holding these men
  • Suicide and Spin Doctors
    There are many ways for the oppressor to force himself into the mind of the oppressed, but one surefire way is through indefinite detention. Never knowing when--or if--you will be released is a cruel form of psychological torture and allows you to keep hope while simultaneously filling you with fear
  • Inside the Secret Facility
    In an Orwellian twist, the U.S. government monitors all correspondence between a Guantánamo attorney and her client
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