A FORMER Huddersfield University student partially blinded after he says he was tortured fears an inquiry will not get to the truth.

Omar Deghayes spent five years of hell locked up in Guantanamo Bay after he was classed as an “enemy combatant’’ by the USA.

But he has always protested his innocence and said he was the victim of a case of wrong identity.

Omar, 40 – who lived in Crosland Moor while he was at Huddersfield University – has spoken in detail about his ordeal as the new coalition Government prepares for an inquiry into allegations of torture.

Sir Peter Gibson, the former judge who is now the intelligence services commissioner will head the inquiry into the alleged collusion of British intelligence officials in the torture of detainees.

But he does not have the power to summon witnesses.

Omar said “They may have set up an inquiry which is more than the previous government has done, but it’s not enough. A real inquiry has to have real powers and be as open as possible. If you’re finding out who has committed illegal actions, nobody should be immune.”

Omar’s lawyer alleges that during his time in Guantanamo Bay, an American base in Cuba, he suffered torture which cost him the sight in his right eye.

Omar is one of several former terrorism suspects who have launched civil claims about their treatment in overseas jails.

As key figures from the former government including Tony Blair and David Miliband face giving evidence in the new inquiry, Omar revealed how a law student once living in Crosland Moor became a key figure in an international scandal.

The Libyan national was brought to Britain by his family in 1986, six years after the assassination of his father in Tripoli in 1980.

The family were granted refugee status and lived in Sussex. He eventually studied law in Wolverhampton but came to the town to take his legal practice exams in 1998.

He said: “I had cousins in Huddersfield and they had lived there for a long time. I used to visit them and I liked the place.

“I applied to do the law exams and had a place to study in Oxford to but I chose Huddersfield because I knew it.

“It was a very happy time, I loved it then and I still love it. I lived on Row Street near Crosland Moor. I used to like walking and I have good memories of it. The people were genuine.

“I had to do retakes and after that I went travelling.

“The plan was to go to India, Pakistan and Malaysia.

“I wanted a break from the legal practice course. Some friends invited me and I went to work in Malaysia and to go into import and export work in Pakistan.

“From there I went to Afghanistan. It was the year 2000 and it was always in the news so I wanted to see it myself. There were no visas and I just went across. I saw the beauty of the country.”

He married and had a son and was setting up a business exporting between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but after September 11, 2001, war broke out and he decided to leave the country with his wife and child.

Omar said: “Afghanistan has been at war for 30 years and no-one has any documents. I could have left on my passport but was trying to prepare things for my wife and son.”

It was in Pakistan in April, 2002, however, that he was arrested and held in Lahore and Islamabad.

He said: “They said they had video tape of me fighting in Chechnya. They said I had been recognised.

“It was shown on the BBC that someone analysed the tape and pointed out it was not me and my lawyer went into detail about who it actually was. The guy didn’t even look like me but this was the start of six years of imprisonment.”

It was in prison in Lahore and Islamabad before 2002 that Omar says he was interrogated by members of the US intelligence services.

When he spoke of his background he was then questioned by a member of the UK Security Services known only as ‘Andrew’.

He said: “He asked me all sorts of things about what some immigrants were doing in the UK – as though I was a spokesman for UK immigrants.

“He showed me a book of people and was asking me questions, saying if I co-operated and told them what I had been doing they would get me back to England and that I studied there so it made no difference to them.

“All I could say to him was I hoped it was not a deception because I would be so bitter.

“He brought up the allegations about me being in Chechnya and even about scuba diving because they were worried about an attack on Hull Harbour.”

In August, 2002, classed as an enemy combatant, he was transferred to Guantanamo, the US detention facility in Cuba.

Here he says he was kept in a room with the lights on 24 hours a day in air conditioned rooms so cold he could see his breath.

Material de-classified by the US include his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith’s allegations of torture suffered by Omar.

He says that in March, 2004, guards entered his cell, his eyes were held open and doused with pepper spray. Fingers were pushed into his eyes and the gouging resulted in the loss of sight in his right eye.

Omar, who now lives in Brighton, said: “The media may have described what happened to me but there were other people who lost their eyes or had their skulls damaged. The treatment in Guantanamo bay is like that.

“Five or six people go into your room and beat you up and sometimes medical illnesses are used against you with the withdrawal of medicine. They did all sorts of cruel things, similar to the Nazis.

And how does he feel about the UK security officer who originally questioned him?

He said: “I’m saddened that someone like that could still be working for the security service.

“People like that have to be accountable for their actions as do those who are giving their orders.”

Omar was released from Guantanamo Bay in December, 2007, and has never faced any charges.

The US Department of Defence says that all credible allegations of abuse are investigated and, if substantiated, individuals are held accountable.