Conongate to Publish 'Only Diary' Written by Still-Imprisoned Guantánamo Detainee

An unprecedented international publishing event: the first and only diary written by a still-imprisoned Guantánamo detainee.

Canongate is publishing GUANTANAMO DIARY by Mohamedou Ould Slahi on January 20th. Publication is under strict press and retail embargo and will be published simultaneously around the world on the same day, accompanied by a storm of coordinated publicity to raise awareness for the ongoing campaign for Slahi's release. Little, Brown will publish in the US, Klett in Germany, Michel Lafon in France and Norstedt in Sweden. GUANTANAMO DIARY will also be published in 12 other countries.

Mohamedou Slahi is a Mauritanian national who has been unlawfully imprisoned by the US government for 13 years, including over 12 years at the Guantanamo Bay prison. The United States has never charged Slahi with any crime.

A major campaign is launching this weekend with the Guardian in the UK and includes breaking news stories, profiles and serialisation. A dedicated, global website has been co-produced by the Guardian and Canongate at www.guantanamodiary.com and will feature a raft of world-exclusive content including interviews with Mohamedou's US Attorney Nancy Hollander, who fought for seven years to have the manuscript declassified and cleared for public release; human rights advocate and editor of the book, Larry Siems; and Mohamedou's Slahi's brother, Yahdih.

More than twenty high-profile supporters will be reading audio extracts in order to give Mohamedou Ould Slahi a voice for the first time since his imprisonment. The line-up includes the likes of Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci, Neil Gaiman, Nick Cave, Elif Shafak, Jude Law, Brian Eno, Mohsin Hamid and many more. Some of the same supporters will appear at a Guardian Live event on the 20th January, alongside Mohamedou's lawyers and brother.

A public petition to free Slahi will be launched by ACLU alongside and supported by partners around the world including Guardian and PEN. Details can be found on www.guantanamodiary.com which goes live on publication day. A press conference with contributions from Hollander, Siems and Y.Slahi, and naming the full list of celebrity supporters, will be held on Tuesday morning.

"A vision of hell, beyond Orwell, beyond Kafka" (JOHN LE CARRÉ)

"A harrowing account of [Mohamedou Ould Slahi's] detention, interrogation, and abuse . . . One of the most stubborn, deliberate and cruel Guantánamo interrogations on record" (Slate)

"Anyone who reads Guantanamo Diary - and every American with a shred of conscience should do so, now - will be ashamed and appalled. Mohamedou Ould Slahi's demand for simple justice should be our call to action. Because what's at stake in this case is not just the fate of one man who managed, against all odds, to tell his story, but the future of our democracy" (Glenn Greenwald)

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