Омар Дегайес: Ұлыбританиядағы ливиялық азаматтың Гуантанамодағы тұтқындығы және босатылуы

Libyan citizen

Omar Amer Deghayes (born November 28, 1969) (عمر عامر الدغيس) 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 December 18, 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 Deghaye'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 Deghaye's release. He was released on 18 December 2007 and returned to Britain. Deghaye 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.

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.

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.

On August 7, 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 December 18, 2007, Deghayes was freed from Guantanamo Bay and flown to the UK.

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.

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