
Life After Guantanamo: Exiled In Kazakhstan
Five men leave Guantanamo Bay in December 2014 and land somewhere none of them chose: Kazakhstan, a country with no connection to their lives before capture. VICE News travels there to check on what a senior Obama administration official called "free men," starting with Abdul Mohammed Rahman, known as Lotfi Bin Ali, held for twelve years without charge over alleged ties to the Tunisian Combat Group and al Qaeda, allegations he denies. Declassified Department of Defense documents released by WikiLeaks rated him "medium intelligence" value but also "low risk," citing serious heart problems, and recommended repatriation as early as 2004. He was kept another ten years anyway. The film finds him in eastern Kazakhstan still sick, in a place with no support network, no shared language, and no clear legal status. Interviews and on-the-ground footage trace what resettlement actually looks like once the cameras that covered the release itself have gone, and how little of it resembles freedom in any practical sense.