Potter series popular among Gitmo detainees

by · August 21, 2010

TIME Magazine is reporting that the Harry Potter series is one of the more popular reads for detainees behind bars in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. For the 176 prisoners, cut off from family and facing an uncertain future, the Arabic translations of Potter provides an escape.

“He may not come riding in on the back of a hippogriff to free his favorite captives from their own version of Azkaban, but he shows up once a week on a cart of books from the prison library, offering an escape of the imagination treasured by many.”

“Indeed, the Harry Potter series has been one the most popular titles among the 18,000 books, magazines, DVDs and newspapers on offer from the prison library at Guantánamo.”

What do you think of the Potter books being read at such a controversial location?

Thanks to Jen!