© Columbia University Press
Rules of the Game: Detention, Deportation, Disappearance
March, 2010
Cloth, 288 pages,
ISBN: 978-0-231-70124-2
$26.50
"This book makes a very important contribution to the small but growing literature on the human rights implications of the US-led "War on Terror." Drawing on hours and hours of accounts from victims and families, it is relevant to scholars of international relations, international law, and human rights. It also appeals to human rights and civil liberties organizations, Muslim communities, political parties, and the general public, whose skepticism British and U.S. activities is growing." — Ruth Blakeley, University of Kent
"What Asim Qureshi has most aptly detailed in these pages is the lengths to which the rules of a very dangerous game have spanned continents and permanently changed societies, particularly ones that once boasted—as part of their heritage—that no man would be wronged in their land." — Moazzam Begg, former Guantanamo detainee, author of Enemy Combatant, and director of the NGO Cageprisoners
"Asim Qureshi documents the tragic and shameful history of a cruel and counter-productive policy that has particularly impacted many Muslims subjected to torture and imprisonment in intolerable conditions without legal safeguards. The great importance of this well-researched book is its emphasis on the experience and suffering of the victims whose voices are eloquently transcribed." — Geoffrey Bindman, chair of the British Institute of Human Rights
"An important book on a subject that is crucial to the rather frightening era we are living in. Asim Qureshi writes from a knowledge as deep as anyone in the field. A must read." — Clive Stafford Smith, lawyer for Guantanamo detainees and director of Reprieve
"Rules of the Game highlights aspects of our modern historical narrative that the 'war on terror' discussions have long neglected. Asim Qureshi offers an insightful overview of the global impact of international human rights violations against the Muslim diaspora. More important, he presents first-person portraits of the impact of these violations not only by the Muslim men who survived these practices but also by the women whose husbands disappeared, the children whose fathers were wrongfully detained, and the parents whose sons have been abused. Qureshi reminds us that international human rights are not simply abstract principles but concrete safeguards designed to protect individuals and communities from the abuse of executive power." — Gitanjali Gutierrez, US attorney for Guantanamo detainees, the Center for Constitutional Rights
"The testimonies presented by Asim Qureshi are individually horrific, and when laid out together in this way, they paint a truly terrifying global picture." — Mahvish Rukhsana Khan, attorney for Guantanamo detainees and author of My Guantanamo Diary
"Asim Qureshi's meticulous research gives the widest picture yet of the impact of 9/11 on the destruction of fundamental human rights and legal norms by the most powerful of Western politicians. His story is a horrifying one, but his sober tone makes it possible to follow him and the tormented Muslim men he has spoken to into an area of lawlessness, lies, torture, and degradation that no one who has not lived it can imagine. The importance of this scholarly book and the years of recording and reporting that have gone into it tell a story of what has happened to our civilization. No one can afford not to know these things." — Victoria Brittain, journalist, writer, and former associate editor of the Guardian