At Guantanamo, where Deghayes remains as one of the "forgotten seven" UK detainees:
- He was blinded in one eye by soldiers as they put down protests by prisoners who objected to "sexual assaults" (hands being placed up their rectums as part of a search)
- He was sprayed with mace and then a finger was plunged into his eye, which had been damaged since childhood
- A soldier smeared feces on his face
- Two soldiers kicked and punched him
::: more below the fold :::
Also at Guantanamo:
- The US allowed Libyan intelligence agents to interrogate him twice -- on September 9 and 11 last year-- during which they threatened his life (His father -- "a prominent figure in Libyan public life who pioneered trade unions" - was assassinated by Col. Muammar Gadaffi's regime.)
- He alleges that they insulted his dead father, and showed him pictures of badly beaten Libyan dissidents
- British and US intelligence services traded information about him with the "Gadafy regime"
Until now, the
Guardian reports, the U.S. military "had ordered that the claims he made to his lawyer, Clive Stafford-Smith, during a visit to Guantánamo, should be kept secret, but last week US censors declassified them."
At the infamous Bagram air base in Afghanistan, after his capture in Pakistan:
- he became so ill he was barely able to eat for 40 days
- he was punished for talking to another prisoner by being handcuffed with his hands above his head
- he was repeatedly hooded, forced to his knees during questioning and threatened with torture and death
- at night he could hear screams from other inmates (More: Omar Deghayes)
In today's
Guardian:
A British resident held by the US in Guantánamo Bay was directly threatened with murder by Libyan secret services while in captivity, it was claimed yesterday.
Omar Deghayes, 35, was born in Libya but fled to Britain as a child after his father was murdered by the Gadafy regime.
Mr Deghayes also alleges beatings and ill-treatment by the US that left him blinded in one eye after a soldier plunged his finger into it, and claims that he had human excrement smeared on his face.
Mr Deghayes grew up in Brighton and studied law at Wolverhampton University and then in Huddersfield. His family say he had given sermons in a mosque condemning terrorism and violence in the name of Islam.
How do readers of Al Jazeera respond to this new story?
the usa are calling for justice and investigation in lebanon? they should start at home. there is that much amounted, they have work for decades when not for centuries. - Ja in Germany
this is the freedom of g w bush. this is what he means when he says freedom must reign. all usa citizens must feel the pain of the sad doings of your forces and try to correct the wrongs being committed by them. try to correct it before the wrath of almighty a falls on you. omar hassan commenting from bombay india
i did not reda what the commentetors here writes. but i have nothing to say.i let the judgement to the american or p r i american commentetors for this horrible mis treatment.. the eye consisists of very soft tissue and peper is enough to destroy those things. Dr.khan h from nederland
What a US soldier writes to Al Jazeera about today's breaking story:
i was there at the prison in march. the crimes were absurd. some were military police, some were homeland security police, some were federal protective police, some were san francisco police. the same people arrive over and over. i believe that there are upstanding people in the armed forces but someone is manipulating deployments. i believe these people to belong to a psychological warfare unit. i believe that these people are lewd and want to lower other people to their level.
Omar Deghayes is a hot commodity. Not only do the Libyans want him, but so does a Spanish judge. Deghayes had emigrated to Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, and married an Afghani woman with whom he has a child. He was captured in Pakistan.
A Spanish judge wants Mr Deghayes extradited from Guantánamo for alleged links to an Islamic group which is in turn alleged to have links which Osama bin Laden.
Guardian
The British government insists it cannot intervene:
The British government says it cannot help Mr Deghayes, who has held refugee status in the UK since 1987, even though the rest of his family are British citizens.
They say that under international law only the Gadafy regime which killed his father can intervene. Guardian