Narrator how the u. S. Naval base became a Detention Center for haitian refugees. And the legal battle that set the stage for today. This is essentially guantanamo, episode one. Narrator tonight, two stories about guantanamo its past and present. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation. Dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust. Supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund. With major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Arun rath ive been covering the prison at Guantanamo Bay throughout the obama years. President obama rushing to empty Guantanamo Bay just days before leaving office. Rath i returned just before Obama Left Office as he and donald trump fought over the future of this place and the men detained here. Trump hes allowing people to get out that are terrible people. Obama make no mistake, we will close guantanamo prison. Trump gitmo, were keeping that open, and were going to load it up with bad dudes. Rath gitmo still houses notorious terrorists like Khaled Sheikh mohammed, the selfproclaimed mastermind of the 9 11 attacks. Tell us where we are. Were standing right now in front of camp vi, and thats where the majority of the generalpopulation detainees are housed. Just dont get any guard faces in the back. Rath this time i was here to report on obamas final push to empty out the prison. In his last year, he released 52 detainees. Nearly half of them had been held without charges and were once considered too dangerous to let go. But. Military and intelligence officials finally deemed the men safe to set free. door buzzes i wanted to know more about these decisions and what happened to the detainees once they got out. This gate would literally be the last gate that they walk through before they get on their transportation to leave Guantanamo Bay. 15 detainees just released to the united arab emirates. Rath the detainees had been scattered around the globe, taken in under secret deals. Bodyguard for osama bin laden, is now free after being held for 14 years. Rath none of the officials involved in these deals will discuss the details, but most of the detainees were sent to arab countries. The Obama Administration quietly took ten terror suspects from the prison at Guantanamo Bay and transferred them to the middle eastern country of oman. Rath some were sent to Rehab Centers in places like oman. The u. S. Released four yemeni men with some relatives waiting. Rath others were reunited with their families in saudi arabia. Every transfer was reviewed and approved by the department of defense. Hi, how are you . Rath chuck hagel personally signed off on more than 40 detainees during his years as secretary of defense. In terms of the facts about former detainees, what should americans make of their danger, their status . Theres always the danger, of course, because this is an imperfect process, but every one of those detainees i signed off on, it was based on the best, absolute best information, intelligence, and knowledge and certification that we could, that we could come up with. And one of the final questions that i had to certify was, in your opinion, have you done everything to minimize the possibility that a detainee would ever again do any harm to an american or any of our allies . Rath what did that mean in, in practice, in figuring that out . I always took the approach that i wanted to be damn sure, and i wanted assurance from my security people that, in fact, they had seen physically where these people were going to be, who was going to monitor them, how often theyre monitoring, and on the other side, we say to the host countries that are going to accept them, we want these people to get back into society where they are productive citizens. That means education, that means rehabilitation. Of course, i mean, thats clearly in our interests. Its in the interests of the detainee. Rath few of the exdetainees have been heard from since their release. Their lawyers say that the ones sent to arab countries seem to be adjusting, but ive heard others are having problems, a handful of men who were taken to nonarab countries with little support. One of them, among the last to leave gitmo, is willing to talk mansoor al dayfi, prisoner number 441, from yemen. He was never charged, but for most of his 14 years at gitmo, he was considered too dangerous to release. In 2015, a review board convened by president obama determined he was no longer a threat. Yemeni detainees are barred from going home because of political instability there. So last summer, he and another detainee were transferred to serbia. Mansoors pro bono lawyer in new york says hes unhappy in serbia, and wants to live in an arab country. Was he given any choice in where he was going to go . No, not really. It was pretty much presented as guantanamo or serbia. Rath and what kind of rehabilitation has been provided for him in serbia so far . From serbia, as far as i can tell, nothing. And nothing from the u. S. Government. If we are going to take someone, after holding them for 14 or 15 years, and not let them go home and not let them go to the country they want to go to, not let them go to a place where they feel they themselves will be able to build a life, but force them to another place, then, i think, we have a responsibility to help them adjust to that and make it work. Rath she says mansoor has gone on a Hunger Strike protesting his situation. You have represented other guantanamo detainees. In terms of mansoors resettlement and reintegrating, is mansoor a unique case . I do not think he is the only one whos had a difficult time. I think a lot of the other men who have been sent to, say, eastern europe, which is a very unfamiliar culture for them and unfamiliar languages have had a very hard time adjusting. People who were sent to countries like oman, which are very familiar to them, which are a familiar language, which does have a formal Rehabilitation Program to help them make that adjustment, those people seem to be doing pretty well. And if we want to make sure that these people are never going to be a threat to the u. S. , the best way to do that is to make sure that they have a life that they are happy with. Thats not going to happen if you put them some place where theyre totally isolated and they dont see any prospect for a future. Rath as i set off to meet mansoor in belgrade, serbia, heres what i knew about him hed spent time in an al qaeda Training Camp in afghanistan, before being captured when he was in his early 20s. Much of his case file remains classified, but leaked documents show that at first, the u. S. Government claimed he was an al qaeda commander. His final review, however, came to a very different conclusion. At worst, it says, he was a low level fighter, possibly not even a member of al qaeda at all. Mansoor was known to exaggerate and change his story. In 2006, he claimed he was a committed jihadi and praised the 9 11 attacks. But by 2015, he claimed he wanted a College Education and was a fan of taylor swift. Still, serbia seemed a surprising place to send a man once labeled a muslim terrorist. Every muslim house burned, every muslim killed or run off. Rath in the 1990s, serbian troops slaughtered tens of thousands of muslim men, women, and children. The serbs call it ethnic cleansing and brag about their efficiency. Rath nato bombed belgrade to stop years of carnage. When the detainees arrived here last july, it made headlines. Some questioned if they were dangerous. The serbian Prime Minister insisted they werent. The other detainee has refused to talk at all, and mansoor has kept a low profile, avoiding publicity while his lawyer has been telling officials about his unhappiness and his Hunger Strike. Now he wants to go public, in hopes of being moved. The serbian government agreed to keep mansoor for two years. He cant leave the country. They give him a small stipend and an apartment. Thats where we found him. Hey. Rath mansoor. Okay, good morning. Rath good morning. Welcome. Rath how are you feeling right now . I feel im lost, honestly, because im nowhere. I end up in guantanamo 20 years old. I am still 20 in my. Mentally, im 20 years old. The way im thinking, the way im talking. But, physically, i am 36. Because when you stay in jail, i mean, your mind and your intellectual, everything is stay at the same. And, the worst thing in guantanamo, like what i have experienced, you dont know. I didnt know why i was there. And for how long are you going to punish me . Until when . Whats my, whats my crime . I wish if i had done something wrong, then, yeah, i deserve that. But nothing . Its just, keep people indefinite for no reason. Its not right at all. Rath mansoors detention may have been prolonged by what he told a review board in 2006. After nearly five years at gitmo, he declared himself an enemy of the United States. I regret that now. I was mad, i was young, i was crazy. Of course. Imagine you are in a place where youre, like, well, totally disconnected to the world outside to your family, to lawyers, to anyone. They were extracting the worst of us to show the world, this is bad people. Rath mansoor learned english at gitmo mostly from the guards, he says and he wanted to study at an english Language University here, but was rejected. He says its because of his background, but the university told me he failed his entrance exam. He rarely leaves the house, especially now that hes on a Hunger Strike. My weight is like, uh, slimming down very, very fast. I started in, uh. 154 pound. Now i am, uh, 136. Like, almost 18 pound i have lost in 23 days. Rath for most of the detainees at gitmo, refusing to eat was a common form of protest. Mansoor says he did it many times, and at one point, was forcefed over the course of two years. Now hes using the tactic to pressure the u. S. To get him out of serbia. What i am asking, to be sent to other country which i can start my life. That what i want, start a family, start to finish my College Education, and to live like a normal person. That what i want in my life. Not more simple dream. Rath what did you think when you heard, serbia . I was afraid. Scared, afraid, to be honest with you, because the historical conflict between serbia and muslims in the 90s. This is, like, god, im going to that country. You threw me in a country which i knew nothing about, no language, no. I mean, it is total chaos. Serbian government told me that after two years, you are, you are leaving. And who is going to accept exguantanamo detainee after what had, had been said about us . Rath every night, mansoor works on a memoir about his time at guantanamo. He shared a draft with me. When we left him, we planned to come back the next morning and continue our interview. Within a few minutes, our taxi was pulled over. woman speaking serbian rath the police pull us over. About, i think, three or four officers. They said, random check. We were with our local producer, valerie hopkins. Now he wants to know, what do you guys do . Rath were reporters. hopkins speaking serbian rath this ever happen to you before . Rath the next morning, before heading to mansoors, he sent a text to frontline producer james jacoby. He says, look, i have a problem. And uh, he said, i, i dont think i can talk to you today. Government was here. That is what i can say now. For now i dont want to run into any problem. Please, its different now. No, please dont come. There will be a problem for me. Rath mansoor went silent, and so began an unexpected journey. We went to his apartment, and called him repeatedly. The number you have dialeds unavailable at the moment. Rath we spoke to his lawyer in new york, but she didnt know where he was, either. In his texts, mansoor said the government had come, but he didnt say who or why. All we knew was that he had a serbian government minder, but we didnt know where to find him. So we sought help from a local investigative journalist whos been pursuing the government for information about mansoor. This is a letter to the government in august. September, also. November. So basically i am addressing to any possible authorities that are maybe in charge for this issue. And the government didnt even reply to my constant calls or mails. Rath what have you been able to find out about the transfers . We found out that government didnt call any experts for resocialization and trauma healing of those people. We found out that they didnt contact islamic communities in serbia and notify them. And for sure their help is needed in their resocialization. So basically the only person who has everything on this case is the Prime Minister. Who is not very keen of journalists. vucic speaking serbian rath i found out the Prime Minister, aleksandar vucic, was having a press conference. When i arrived, i was referred to his interior minister, whos in charge of domestic security. Rath likewise. Do you think we could talk to you, for a few minutes . Rath were doing stories about the, uh, the guantanamo detainees that have ended up in other countries. Rath okay. Rath i wanted to find out what he knew about mansoors whereabouts. Rath weve been interviewing one of the former detainees. He suddenly went quiet on us. Is there any way that we could find out through, through you . Or. Well, that, they are now, uh, private citizens as anyone else, and they have right to talk or not to talk with anyone. So we cannot force them to do that or influence them to do that. Rath hes fallen out of contact with everybody. I mean, were actually concerned about whats going on with him. Well, i have no information that any one of them complained. We have regular communication with them. And i think that theyre very happy with the ongoing situation. And i would say that we are doing a very good job. We are trying to accommodate u. S. In the way of deradicalizing these kind of individuals while closing guantanamo. Rath for two days, we looked all over belgrade for mansoor, and the u. S. Embassy couldnt offer much help. Is the state Department Responsible for these guys wellbeing here . Rath you dont know. Rath while waiting on word from monsoor one night, i went into downtown belgrade, where more than a thousand refugees from predominantly muslim countries had set up a makeshift camp. The serbian government has been trying to provide relief, but its hard to keep up. Rath youre from afghanistan . Rath and how long have you been here now . Rath whats it like living here . Rath that night, we finally heard from mansoor. He was at the one place we didnt expect. Our hotel. sighs rath he told us that the morning we were supposed to continue our interview, several serbian men barged into his apartment and told him to stop talking to us. They were serious, very serious. And i tried to push the door. They push the door, and one of them like, uh, pushed me. I pushed him back. And i couldnt resist because im on Hunger Strike. They took me to the ground. inhales i really felt humiliated. I hit my head on the wall here. They went, i think there were more than three. They checked the apartment. They took my phone. I mean. They told me basically, just, if you want to stay here, you have to keep your mouth shut. You are lying. You are playing games. If you dont stay in this place, were going to take you someplace where you dont like. Thats it. Rath considering his past, it wasnt surprising the serbians would keep tabs on him. And it was hard to tell how badly he was being treated. We pointed out that at gitmo, he was known to exaggerate. I swear by my god, i didnt need to make it up. I understand. If you judge me by this, sorry, i have to go. In guantanamo, when they put you under pressure, under very bad circumstances, like 72 hours under very cold air conditioning and you are tied to the ground and someone came and poured cold water, whatever, tell him what he want. Its okay, get out of my skin. Why i should even lie about serbia . Im living here. Why should i create problems for myself with serbian government . Rath it was late, and mansoor wanted to talk to his lawyer in new york about staying overnight at the hotel. Honestly, last night i couldnt sleep. I have nightmares all night. Even today, like. I put a lot of stuff behind the door and i think im going to keep doing this all the time. Okay, i will stay here tonight. Let me talk to her about that. Okay, james want to talk to you. Beth, let me take your credit card number. Unless you want to call the Hotel Directly and, and book the room for mansoor. I have nowhere to go to. Like, i have think, thought about to hide among the refugees. But, uh, its not a good idea. What name, uh, do you want to use, mansoor, for tonight . Tell her its 441 tell her. He wants to use 441. laughing rath the next day, we went to see if any of mansoors neighbors had heard a disturbance. I was with valerie, our local producer. door slams rath okay. Rath no one had heard a thing. But one neighbor said he thought the secret police were renting mansoors apartment. dog sneezes rath back inside, mansoor said he was worried the serbs would return. Im very, uh, afraid of these people. Im afraid if they see you guys coming back, theyll look at it as a challenge. Rath do you think, mansoor, there was a misunderstanding about the terms of, of your release . That this is more of the way that things are . You have certain restrictions that are, that are placed upon you that were not. Look, they havent. When i was in guantanamo, they havent told me nothing about serbia. They told me it would be good there. So you know what . I will try to forget guantanamo, start education, learning english, studying, blah blah blah. This is bull bleep . I try to be reasonable. I try to be nice. Im trying to be quiet. Because if i get angry, im crazy. You know whats been crazy . Guantanamo teach us how to be crazycrazy, bleep crazy. Im not making threats here. But this is how they push me to the corner. Im trying to get my message to ble