UM Law alumna Mahvish Rukhsana Khan authors book about Guantanamo Bay
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UM Law alumna Mahvish Rukhsana Khan, JD '07, has written a memoir entitled My Guantanamo Diary: The Detainees and the Stories They Told Me. In it, Khan details her experiences, first as an interpreter and later as a defense attorney, for prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay.
Khan, whose parents are Afghan immigrants, became an interpreter for lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees while she was a student at the University of Miami School of Law. Having grown up listening to her mother tell her "now is not the time to be complacent," Khan felt compelled to help any way she could. With her fluency in Pashto and a familiarity with Afghan cultures and customs, she was quickly taken on as an interpreter for Afghan detainees. In January 2006, Khan was on her way to Guantanamo Bay. As her role with the detainees quickly developed, Khan began providing supervised legal counsel and traveled to Afghanistan to find exonerating evidence for prisoners. That same year, Khan wrote about her experiences in a Washington Post article entitled "My Guantanamo Diary: Face to Face with the War on Terrorism."
Today, as a practicing attorney, Khan continues to work with Guantanamo detainees. She also travels, speaking to audiences about her experiences at Guantanamo.
Details about her current book tour can be found on her website, www.mahvishkhan.com.
On August 30, Books & Books in Coral Gables will host a book signing event for Khan.
Related Links
- New York Times review "Voices of Victims"
- New York Post review "My Guantanamo Diary: All About Naive"
- International Herald Tribune review "Mahvish Rukhsana Khan's 'My Guantanamo Diary'"
- St. Petersburg Times review "Translator gives an inside view in 'My Guantanamo Diary'"
- NPR broadcast "Interpreter Details Detention in 'My Guantanamo'"
- Washington Post article "My Guantanamo Diary: Face to Face with the War on Terrorism"
- NewsHour with Jim Middleton interview "Guantanamo Diary"
- Miami New Times blog entry "The Last Days of Guantanamo Bay"
posted 14-August-2008
