Guantanamo: If The LIghts Go Out

Those are the words of ex-Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed, describing his never-ending nightmare of incarceration.

Despite Obama's election promise that it would be closed, hundreds like Mohamed still languish in Guantanamo.

Like the others who have endured its physical and psychological tortures, they will almost certainly be released without charge.

This book, with its unsettling images related to the continuing obscenity of the "facility," is a persuasive point of reference in the campaign to get the camp closed once and for all.

It makes its mark through interweaving three experiences of Guantanamo-related "home."

There are images of the US "home" - the military enclave complete with malls, churches and leisure facilities, the camp complex housing detainees in states of physical and mental disorientation and the homes of the ex-detainees attempting to come to terms with their horrific experiences.

Included too are photographed letters of support from children and adults from all over the world to inmates.

They are the only human notes of warmth in these pages entirely devoid of people.

"Excellent" is an invidious description of Edmund Clark's images.

But as examples of photography which has a persuasive - even agitational - story to tell, they are outstanding and memorable.

And they are eloquently reinforced in accompanying texts by Julian Stallabrass and ex-detainee Omar Deghayes.

At £35, this isn't a cheap book.

But it's certainly one which should be on the shelves of schools, public libraries and campaign groups.