Omar Deghayes

Omar Amer Deghayes (born 28 November 1969) is a Libyan citizen who had legal residency status with surviving members of his family in the United Kingdom since childhood. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002. He was held by the United States as an enemy combatant at Guantanamo Bay detention camp from 2002 until 18 December 2007. He was released without charges and returned to Britain, where he lives. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 727. Deghayes says he was blinded permanently in one eye, after a guard at Guantanamo gouged his eyes with his fingers. Deghayes was never charged with any crime at Guantanamo.

When Deghayes was a child, his father, a prominent attorney and union organiser, was arrested and executed by Muammar Gaddafi's government in Libya.

During Deghayes's detention at Guantanamo, his family in Great Britain mounted a campaign to free him, which received the support of the Brighton Argus newspaper and all six Members of Parliament in Sussex, where Omar Deghayes had resided for many years. This is where his family still lives. In 2006, the British High Court considered whether the United Kingdom government should petition the United States government on behalf of Guantánamo detainees who had legal British residency status. (It had already petitioned on behalf of British citizens.) The High Court concluded that it did not have the authority to make recommendation in the area of foreign affairs, but said that the evidence that the British residents were being tortured was "powerful".

In August 2007, the British government under Gordon Brown requested Deghayes's release. He was released on 18 December 2007 and returned to Britain. Deghayes and another former detainee were arrested under a Spanish warrant on allegations of al-Qaeda involvement in 2003; he was released on bail while his case is considered.

Early life and education Omar Deghayes was born in Tripoli, Libya in 1969. His father was an attorney and a prominent figure in Libya, but got at cross purposes with Muammar Gaddafi. After his father was killed by the Libyan government in 1980, al-Walid's family was eventually able to leave in two groups, in 1985 and 1986. His mother's request for asylum in Britain was granted in 1987. Deghayes grew up in a secular household and was granted status as a legal resident.

Disruption of war After the United States invasion of Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, Deghayes moved temporarily to Pakistan for what he thought would be safety with his Afghan wife and child. He has said that he was arrested, along with his family, by bounty hunters in Pakistan. He was "sold" to the American forces and taken into military custody. He was first held and interrogated at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility.

His attorney Clive Stafford Smith said that in 2005 an investigation by BBC Newsnight discovered that, shortly before Deghayes's arrest, an anonymous informant had mistakenly identified him to Spanish authorities as appearing in a videotape including Arab mujahideen among rebels in Chechnya. They issued a warrant for his arrest and notified the Americans, who later took him into custody in Pakistan. (The person in the videotape was later correctly identified as Abu al-Walid, an insurgent leader who was killed in Chechnya by Russians in April 2004.) Deghayes claimed a guard gouged his eyes. He was left permanently blind in his right eye.

Deghayes reported that he: Saw a soldier shoot a captive. Witnessed the partial drowning of captives (a technique later known as waterboarding). Saw a guard throw a Koran into a toilet. Saw a Moroccan/Italian named Abdulmalik beaten to death. Saw another captive beaten until blood was all over the floor; the detainee was left permanently brain damaged. Was permanently blinded when a guard stuck his finger in his eye. Had excrement smeared on his face. Suffered sexual abuse, which he said was too traumatic to be described in detail. Was subjected to electric shocks. Was kept naked in the freezing cold and had freezing water thrown on him. Was starved for forty-five days. Received repeated death threats. An inquiry by BBC Newsnight in 2005 found that Deghayes was not on the tape. Stafford Smith said the face of al-Walid looked more like Fidel Castro than it resembled Deghayes.

According to an article by his attorney Clive Stafford Smith, Deghayes wrote:I am slowly dying in this solitary prison cell, I have no rights, no hope. So why not take my destiny into my own hands, and die for a principle?

Administrative Review Board hearing Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose CSRT had determined they were an "enemy combatant".

Detainees found to be "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards were to determine whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat, be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or set free.

First annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Deghayes's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 24 May 2005.

"The following primary factors favor continued detention:"

Second annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Omar Amer Deghayes' second annual Administrative Review Board, on 8 August 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

The following primary factors favor continued detention

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

Release On 7 August 2007, the United Kingdom government requested the release of Omar Deghayes and four other detainees who had been legal British residents prior to their detention. Responding to considerable interest in the case of Deghayes and other men, the UK government warned the public that the negotiations might take months. On 18 December 2007, Deghayes was freed from Guantanamo Bay and flown to the UK.

Spanish extradition request Deghayes and Jamil El-Banna, another former legal British resident released at the same time, were arrested and questioned by Spanish authorities, before being required to appear in court in response to a Spanish extradition warrant. By this time, the Obama administration had released legal opinion memos prepared by the Office of Legal Counsel, Department of Justice, under the Bush administration, which have become known as the Torture Memos. Dating from August 2002 through May 2005, these authorized specific enhanced interrogation techniques to be used by the CIA and DOD, which have since legally held to be torture.

Deghayes and the three other men: Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, Lahcen Ikassrien, and Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna, had previously faced charges in Spanish courts, based on confessions they made while in US custody. Their charges were dropped in the cases of Deghayes and al Banna, based on Garzón's determination that their mental health had been adversely affected by their detention. In it he reviewed his entire experience of arrest and detention.

Representation in other media Outside the Law: Stories from Guantanamo (2009), is a documentary featuring interviews with Omar Deghayes.