The General
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  • Published: 28 March 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448178889
  • Imprint: RH AudioGo
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 6 hr 54 min
  • Narrators: Amerjit Deu, Gillian Slovo
  • RRP: $19.99

The General

The ordinary man who challenged Guantanamo

Formats & editions
EBook
28 Mar 2012
Audiobook
28 Mar 2013
Paperback
15 Mar 2014
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This is Ahmed’s story. It will make you rethink what it means to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It will also make you look anew at courage, survival, justice and the War on Terror.

On 11 September 2001, in a café in London, Ahmed Errachidi watched as the twin towers collapsed. He was appalled by the loss of innocent life. But he couldn’t possibly have predicted how much of his own life he too would lose because of that day.

In a series of terrible events, Ahmed was sold by the Pakistanis to the Americans in the diplomatic lounge at Islamabad airport and spent five and a half years in Guantanamo. There, he was beaten, tortured, humiliated, very nearly destroyed.

But Ahmed did not give in. This very ordinary, Moroccan-born London chef became a leader of men. Known by the authorities as The General, he devised protests and resistance by any means possible. As a result, he spent most of his time in solitary confinement. But then, after all those years, Ahmed was freed, his innocence admitted.

This is Ahmed’s story. It will make you rethink what it means to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It will also make you look anew at courage, survival, justice and the War on Terror.
  • Published: 28 March 2013
  • ISBN: 9781448178889
  • Imprint: RH AudioGo
  • Format: Audio Download
  • Length: 6 hr 54 min
  • Narrators: Amerjit Deu, Gillian Slovo
  • RRP: $19.99
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About the authors

Ahmed Errachidi

Ahmed Errachidi was born in Tangier but lived and worked as a chef in London for 18 years before being detained in Guantanamo. He now lives back in Morocco with his wife and children and is opening his own restaurant.

Gillian Slovo

Gillian Slovo is a highly acclaimed South African-born novelist, playwright, memoirist and activist. Her work includesIce Road, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize; Red Dust, which was made into a film starring Hilary Swank; and the play Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom which was put on in theatres all over the world.

Praise for The General

Those who doubt that Guantanamo exemplifies American power in its violent, cruel and grossly single-minded abuse of humanity, should read this epic story of a truly brave man who survived, somehow, to tell the truth

John Pilger

A revelation. People need to read this book

Mark Haddon

An important book which provides a valuable insight into the mental and physical trauma suffered by those who were, and continue to be, detained in the living hell that is Guantanamo

Paddy McGuffin, Morning Star

Those who doubt Guantanamo exemplifies American power should read this epic story of a truly brave man who survived to tell the truth

John Pilger

This is not the first published account of life in Guantanamo, but it is perhaps the most moving

David Rose, Mail on Sunday

This book documents his honesty, courage and fortitude

New Internationalist

Anyone at all interested in the state of human rights or democracy in the 21st century should read this. It's a profoundly humane testimonial written by a person whose kindness and dignity uplift. His treatment at the hands of the US Administration beggars belief

Emma Thompson

Anyone at all interested in the state of human rights or democracy in the 21st century should read this. It's a profoundly humane testimonial written by a person whose kindness and dignity uplift. His treatment at the hands of the US Administration beggars belief. Read it to learn how, as America preaches "war" on terror, it simultaneously, and apparently without shame, practises the ultimate form of terror -- state-sponsored torture -- upon the innocent individual

Emma Thompson

One of the many things that you are left feeling by Errachidi’s account is that there is no such thing as an "ordinary man"; another is that his extraordinary story, with all its surreal and brutal twists, needed telling

Tim Adams, Observer

Remarkable... The General purports to be the story of just one man but this compelling read speaks for every innocent victim in the War on Terror, from the 3,000 murdered on 9/11 to the 30,000 Iraqi and Afghan civilians

Marco Giannangeli, Sunday Express

Both uplifting and terrifying

The Lady

An account of life in Guantanamo Bay is an unlikely place to turn for a lesson in happiness, but Ahmed Errachidi offers just that

Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life

This eloquent autobiographical novel challenges our ideas about the war on terror and teaches us about human bravery

Eve Commander, Big Issue

Gruesomely compelling

Herald

A revelation. People need to read this book

Mark Haddon

Those who doubt Guantanamo exemplifies American power should read this epic story of a truly brave man who survived to tell the truth

John Pilger

Anyone at all interested in the state of human rights or democracy in the 21st century should read this. It's a profoundly humane testimonial written by a person whose kindness and dignity uplift. His treatment at the hands of the US Administration beggars belief

Emma Thompson

An important book which provides a valuable insight into the mental and physical trauma suffered by those who were, and continue to be, detained in the living hell that is Guantanamo

Paddy McGuffin, Morning Star
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