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John MacFarlane is a writer, producer and editor from Montreal, Canada. He has an MA in media studies, a grad diploma in journalism and a B.Eng in electrical engineering. His MA thesis was about the Daily Show. He's interested in civic engagement and communications theory, the digital divide and alternative economic theories, and saving nature.

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Guantanamo Interrogations on Video

by John MacFarlane (more posts by this author)

The just-released footage of an interrogation at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is quite compelling. It remains to be seen whether the video will have the same impact as the photos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but its content certainly does nothing to heal the United States' wounded reputation around human rights.

Captured on cameras hidden in a vent, the footage shows Canadian Omar Khadr, then 16, weeping and in serious distress. The interrogation methods used on him included prolonged, multi-week sleep deprivation.

Khadr's lawyers hope the video will prompt Canadian officials to push for his return home.