From
Sonja Zekri
Mohamedou Ould Slahi Houbeini, ex-Al Qaeda member in Afghanistan and former Guantanamo prisoner, will not be curating the African Book Festival Berlin in August. After weeks of outraged criticism, the organizer, the Berlin association Intercontinental, ended the cooperation on Tuesday. In an email that the SZ has received, they inform Slahi that the contract for artistic direction is being terminated because of the “serious, but unsubstantiated allegations against you, which have meanwhile also led to numerous attacks on the festival itself”. We regret the step “extremely”.