‘Guantanamo’ goes to Berlin

Two former Guantanamo Bay captives joined British director Michael Winterbottom in Berlin on Tuesday to promote his semi-documentary film about their experience and to call for closure of the U.S. detention center.

Asif Iqbal, Ruhel Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul were captured in Afghanistan in 2001, then released without charge in March 2004. “The Road to Guantanamo,” one of 19 films competing at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, combines interviews with the men, news archive material and scenes re-creating their experience in the facility on the island of Cuba.

“We want to show the world what’s happening in Guantanamo,” Rasul said at the film’s premiere, which he attended with Ahmed. “What we really want is everyone to be released from there; we want the place to be closed down.”