The film describes Mrs. Kurnaz’s five-year struggle to free her son Murat, who was imprisoned in the American prison camp Guantanamo Bay and severely tortured, completely innocently. The film is based on detailed research into the Murat Kurnaz case: pure state terrorism. The then red-green federal government was deeply involved in it.
In the course of its so-called war on terror after the attacks in New York in 2001, US imperialism created Guantanamo as a prison for “enemy combatants.” The prisoners had no rights whatsoever, torture was legitimate, and so-called white torture was practiced. Physical damage should not be visible; people should be broken psychologically.
Lawyer Bernhard Docke, who supported Ms Kurnaz in her fight, also addressed the shameful role played by the then federal government in a lecture at the 4th Open Academy in 2007. In September 2002, Kurnaz was interrogated by German secret service agents. Like the US interrogation specialists before him, they came to the conclusion that Kurnaz posed “no potential threat to German, American or Israeli security interests”. As was only made public in 2006, the USA had already signaled at that time that they were prepared to release Kurnaz. At the end of October 2002, the German authorities, led by the then head of the Chancellery and current Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, decided to impose an entry ban on Kurnaz. When he had already been released, the withdrawal of his residence permit had to be prevented in court and successfully.
Lawyer Docke: “The worst statement was made by Mr Steinmeier in Der Spiegel – ‘We would do it again.'”
In Solingen at the weekend, Steinmeier feigned sympathy for the victims of the fascist attack in Solingen. This man made a pact with US imperialism, one of the world’s biggest terrorist states, against an innocent man, and justified this even after Kurnaz’s innocence had been proven. When you hear his agitation against refugees and so-called irregular migration, you believe his statements from back then: he would do it again at any time as he did with Murat Kurnaz.
Meltem Kaptan, who plays Rabiye Kurnaz in the film, received the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 2022 Berlinale.
