A British resident law student whose father was killed in Libya by Gaddafi, is one of the thousands held, with no evidence of wrongdoing, no charges being laid, and no contact with his family, at Guantanamo Bay by the US Government. His name is Omar Deghayes, and thanks to being held down, having his eyes pryed open, and having pepper spray blasted directly into them for a long period, he is now blind in one eye.
He also had a pepper spray-soaked rag rubbed in his eyes, and as if that wasn't enough, a soldier's finger poked into them as well.
In terms of what has happened to others at the US torture centre in Cuba, a hefty dose of pepper spray may seem like not much to bitch about. I mean, he doesn't seem to have had his nuts electrocuted, or his arms amputated without anasthetic or medical supervision, as has happened at Abu Gonzales... uh, I mean Abu Ghraib, but still, think about this for a second... a man will spend the rest of his life blind in one eye because the US made such torture acceptable.
And what's worse, is I found this on THE DRUDGE REPORT.
Good job, mainstream media. When a paid flunky for the Republicans is scooping you on torture stories that hurt the Republican administration, you know something is seriously wrong in this nation.
Man 'blinded at Guantanamo'
This Is London - 17 February 2005
A British resident has been blinded in one eye by American military police at Guantanamo Bay, his lawyer claimed today.
Omar Deghayes' family appealed for the British Government to intervene and secure his release, almost 25 years to the day since his father was assassinated by Colonel Gaddafi's regime in Libya.
Mr Deghayes mother Zohra Zewawi, from Brighton, wept as lawyer Clive Stafford Smith described the injuries the detainee has allegedly suffered at the Cuban base. "In March 2004 the Emergency Reaction Force in Camp Delta came into his cell," he said. "They brought their pepper spray and held him down[...] They held both of his eyes open and sprayed it into his eyes and later took a towel soaked in pepper spray and rubbed it in his eyes. "Omar could not see from either eye for two weeks but he gradually got sight back in one eye.
"He's totally blind in the right eye. I can report that his right eye is all white and milky - he can't see out of it because he has been blinded by the US in Guantanamo." Mr Stafford Smith added that one of the officers also pushed his finger into Mr Deghayes' eye. It was a combination of the pepper spray and the gouging which led to loss of his sight, the lawyer claimed.
Mr Deghayes, 35, came to the UK with his family from Libya in 1986, six years after his father, Amer, was allegedly killed by the Gaddafi regime - an incident reported by Amnesty International at the time. The detainees' brother Taher Deghayes, 38, and sister Amani Deghayes, 30, joined their mother in asking Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to step up diplomatic efforts to secure either his fair trial or release.
[...His mother said] "I don't ever believe he would do something like a terrorist attack on civilians or anyone else. "I can't believe you can hold someone for three years in such terrible conditions without coming up with evidence."
[...]
Mr Deghayes was a law student and has been held at the military base since early 2002. He is a British resident and had applied for British citizenship. The detainee travelled from the UK to Afghanistan, where he met and married an Afghan woman and they have a four-year-old son, Suleiman. Mr Stafford Smith said Amer Deghayes was persecuted and killed because he was a prominent figure in Libyan public life, who also pioneered trade unions in the country.
So that's where we are now - we not only torture, but we torture British law students whose fathers fought Gaddafi and tried to bring about Democratic change in the Middle East.
Brilliant. Hearts and minds. And to think it first appeared in the US on Egg-Boy Drudge's website!