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Today, Radiolab debuts its first-ever serialized story, “The Other Latif,” a six-part mystery series about Detainee 244 at Guantanamo Bay.
Radiolab reporter Latif Nasser was procrastinating at work, scrolling through Twitter, when he saw a tweet that was about him—or so he thought. It was actually about a different man bearing the same name. Though never convicted of—or even charged with—a crime, “the other Latif” has been a prisoner inside the world’s most notorious prison for the last 17 years. Cleared for release by six U.S. government agencies in the waning days of the Obama administration—but never freed—Detainee 244 remains in a Kafkaesque state of legal limbo.
“The Other Latif” is Detainee Nasser’s story as told by Radiolab’s Nasser, the result of a three-year investigation spanning five countries, three U.S. Presidents, and 17 years. Leaked documents from the Department of Defense paint a terrifying portrait of one of Osama bin Laden’s top military advisors, the man who allegedly blew up Afghanistan’s iconic Bamiyan Buddhas and helped bin Laden escape the battle of Tora Bora; his lawyer maintains he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Through the course of his reporting, Radiolab’s Nasser is ushered through the bowels of the Pentagon, followed by Moroccan intelligence, kept up late at night exchanging WhatsApp messages with alleged terrorists. He even manages to catch a brief but breathtaking glimpse of the other Latif at Guantanamo.