https://arab.news/w3hgv
- Exhibition of Ahmed Rabbani鈥檚 artwork is on display at Karachi鈥檚 Indus Valley School of Art until May 15
- Rabbani was held at Guant谩namo 2004 onwards without ever being charged, he was released in February
KARACHI: A former Pakistani detainee at the Guant谩namo Bay US detention facility, who returned to his home country this year and is exhibiting his work at a gallery in Karachi, told Arab News his paintings depicted the 鈥減ain, anguish, blood and tears鈥� of years spent in confinement without ever being charged.
According to the global legal action non-profit Reprieve, Ahmed Rabbani was a taxi driver in Pakistan who intelligence services mistook for a known extremist. He endured 545 days of torture in CIA custody before being rendered to Guant谩namo, where he was held from 2004 onwards. He was never charged with a crime and never had a trial.
Rabbani and his brother, who was also at Guant谩namo, returned to Pakistan in February. His wife was pregnant at the time he was picked up and just five months later gave birth to their son who, now 17, had never met his father before February this year. His parents and sister passed away while he was incarcerated.
An exhibition of Rabbani鈥檚 artwork, entitled 鈥楾he Unforgotten Moon: Liberating Art from Guant谩namo Bay,鈥� is on display at Karachi鈥檚 Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture until May 15.
鈥淧eople ask me what colors I have used. I tell them I haven鈥檛 used colors, I have used pain, I have used anguish, I have used blood, I have used tears,鈥� Rabbani told Arab News at his exhibition.
People observe the paintings made by former Guantanamo Bay detainees at art exhibition at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 4, 2023. (AN Photo)
鈥淢y pain of 20, 21 years, that鈥檚 what I used. I don鈥檛 know what these colors are. This is my pain.鈥�
Rabbani said he began painting while in prison but many of his artworks were confiscated by his captors. The few works that made it out are on display at the Karachi exhibition, as well as the work of ten contemporary Pakistani artists who are responding to Rabbani鈥檚 work.
鈥淭he one that I made about my torture, they did not let go of it,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e had no human rights.鈥�
Muhammad Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, a former Guantanamo Bay ditainee his art exhibition at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 4, 2023. (AN Photo)
Remembering how he started painting, Rabbani said he requested Guant谩namo prison authorities to allow painting class in the prison around 2006. It took up to four years to be supplied with some materials.
鈥淎fter three, four years they started it [allowing painting] and they would give one color and we would work from it,鈥� Rabbani said. 鈥淭hey would take the first one and give us another color. Like this they pestered us and like this, one or two years went by.鈥�
鈥淎fter 2011, they started giving some pastel colors. Then in 2015 or 2016 acrylic colors came. Canvas cloth we got in 2016. Before this, there were papers.鈥�
Natasha Malik, the artist who curated Rabbani鈥檚 exhibition, described the experience as 鈥渆ye-opening.鈥�
a painting made by a former Guantanamo Bay ditainee displayed at an art exhibition at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan, on May 4, 2023. (AN Photo)
鈥淚t has been harrowing, it has been incredibly difficult to do a show like this because you see very up close how much suffering and how much pain Ahmed has gone through,鈥� Malik told Arab News. 鈥淭he time that he has lost, 20 years he鈥檚 lost, it鈥檚 tragic. It鈥檚 heartbreaking and it鈥檚 completely unjust.鈥�
Malik is one of the ten artists who are responding to Rabbani鈥檚 work and creating some of his confiscated paintings based on descriptions provided by his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith.
鈥淭here is a series of censored paintings, which have been confiscated by the US military, which Ahmed had made during his incarceration in Guant谩namo,鈥� Malik said.
鈥淐live is the only one who has seen these paintings and he provided the artists, through [author] Fatima Bhutto, who has also written about Ahmed Rabbani, textual descriptions and the artists have illustrated those descriptions or, a better word is, responded to those descriptions. So, this is our work and we are exhibiting it alongside Ahmed Rabbani鈥檚 uncensored paintings.鈥�
The exhibition, Malik said, would not just bring visibility to Rabbani鈥檚 story but the proceeds from the sale of the works would go toward the rehabilitation of his family.
鈥淲e have about 21, 22 pieces of Ahmed Rabbani鈥檚 original artworks with us here today. But there are six censored pieces which are still in Guant谩namo.鈥�
Another artist exhibiting is Amra Khan, who has recreated a painting called Strappado. Explaining the background to the painting, Rabbani said it described him being kept in Karachi for 47 days before being moved to Islamabad to be handed over to the Americans, who he described as tearing off his clothes and taping his eyes and mouth shut.
Rabbani said he was then moved to a cell in the Afghan city of Kabul where he was hung from his shoulders, and made to stand on his toes for a week while his hands were chained. Sometimes water was given but no food.
鈥淚 would scream the whole day but no one was there to listen,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut this, whoever made this, it is a really good one,鈥� he said about Khan鈥檚 painting, adding: 鈥淚f someone is painting something with happiness, there will be a difference from someone who paints in grief.鈥�
But Rabbani has resolved to recreate his lost works.
鈥淢ost paintings that they [US authorities] have confiscated from me,鈥� he said, 鈥淚 will god willing repaint them all again.鈥�