Guantanamo Boy

Guantanamo Boy (2009), a children’s book from British writer Anna Perera, tells the story of a Muslim teen abducted while on vacation and detained without charges in Guantanamo Bay. The book was written in response to the stories of real-life child detainees at Guantanamo and the post-9/11 culture of fear and paranoia that landed them there. Perera is half-Sri Lankan, half-Irish and has written multiple books for children and young adults, including Skew Whiff and The Glass Collector.

Fifteen-year-old Khalid is a Muslim Pakistani teen who lives in Manchester, England, with his family. He’s a typical carefree teenager, fond of playing football and video games with friends. When his grandmother dies, the family plans a trip to see their relatives back in Pakistan over Khalid’s spring break. Khalid hears a warning that US soldiers have been arresting young men in Pakistan for no apparent reason and that locals are being bribed to inform on suspected terrorists, but he is unconcerned: his family are not practicing Muslims and identify more as British than as Pakistani. He feels safe in his identity.

The family arrives safely in Pakistan. Khalid plays a new online game, Bomber One, that his cousin Tariq invented. A few days later, Khalid’s father vanishes. Alarmed, Khalid sets out to look for him but is unsuccessful. On the way, he finds himself in the middle of a protest. He doesn’t understand what is going on but joins in with the crowd so he can pass through more easily. When he comes home, he plays an online game with a friend who is in Lahore. That night, armed men appear at his aunt’s house and abduct Khalid while the rest of the family is asleep. They tie up his hands and feet and cover his mouth with tape, then carry him to a vehicle that transports the boy to a second location.



He is questioned repeatedly by American agents who ask him why he was at the rally. He tells them the truth, but they do not believe him. Then, he is taken to a prison in Kandahar, where he discovers he cannot even talk to other prisoners because he does not speak their language. Khalid is relentlessly abused and tortured as interrogators insist that he confess to terrorism. Some guards are sympathetic, but they are rare. The Red Cross visits but does nothing about the clear human rights violations taking place at the prison. All they do is offer writing supplies so the prisoners can send letters home. Khalid is able to write to his family.

The reason Khalid has been imprisoned comes to light: he is suspected of terrorism because of the Bomber One game he played with his cousin. When he is waterboarded, he breaks, signing a false confession that he is a member of al-Qaeda. His interrogators had told him that if he confessed, he would be able to go home, but Khalid discovers that they lied to him. After his confession, he is placed in the hands of the American CIA as a suspected terrorist and held in Guantanamo Bay.

In Guantanamo, Khalid feels despair and isolation. He is losing his sense of identity. He is referred to by his prison number, 256, instead of by name. There is little for him to do to pass the time: few ways to exercise, speak to other prisoners, and few activities. One of the few things he is able to do is to read the Qur’an. Under these conditions, Khalid’s grip on reality is slipping. He spends most of his time lost in memories of better times, and he is starting to have trouble distinguishing between these thoughts and what is really happening around him. He begins to self-harm as a way of coping.



Khalid continues to be tortured as his captors demand more details of his false confession and of any targets he planned to bomb or destroy. He is often deprived of food or water and subjected to extreme hot or cold temperatures as a way to further break him and force another “confession.”

Eventually, Khalid breaks, but not in the way his interrogators expected. He refuses to respond to them. In response, the interrogators beat him severely. Later, he receives a surprise: his cousin Tariq is in the next cell. For a long time, Khalid has been angry with his cousin, blaming him for his false imprisonment. But when he realizes Tariq has faced the same tortures that he has, Khalid begins to forgive him.

Soon afterward, a lawyer comes for Khalid. The boy, now seventeen, at first cannot believe that the lawyer is real and not a hallucination. As soon as the lawyer arrives, Khalid’s living conditions improve, and he receives more humane treatment. Finally, the lawyer tells Khalid he will be released.



Khalid returns to his family, but the transition is not an easy one. He is changed by his experiences and suffers extreme psychological trauma from what he endured. Re-integrating himself into his family and his old life will take time, and he will never be the same.

Guantanamo Boy was well received and was nominated for multiple awards after its publication. It was translated into more than a dozen languages and was later adapted into a stage play on a national tour.