His experience in Guantanamo Bay is not something any of us could ever comprehend.
Simply by protesting about being humiliated and degraded, former Huddersfield University student Omar Deghayes says he was subjected to a brutal attack which left him partially blind.
Three years after being released upon the request of the British Government, Omar has never been charged. Out of 1,000 prisoners locked up inside Guantanamo Bay, just one has faced a charge.
Omar spent five years locked up 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.
Now the coalition government have announced an inquiry into allegations of torture which may just clear any doubt people may still have about Omar and those like him.
However, the former Crosland Moor man fears the inquiry will not get to the heart of the truth.
A 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, and it’s this which Omar is unhappy about.
He says that it should have real power to be as open as possible – no-one should be immune from giving evidence.
And he raises a very good point. An inquiry can only conclude the evidence based on what it hears. If key details are missed, the truth can never fully be revealed.
After five years of locked up, the full truth is something Omar deserves to hear. But he’ll have to wait to see if it’s delivered.
