Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil El-Banna

"(My third son) got a prize at school for being a supercitizen. The first person he thought of was his dad. He said, how can I tell him that I’m a supercitizen?" Mrs El-Banna, wife of Jamil El-Banna

In 1997, Britain recognized Jamil El-Banna as a refugee from Jordan. His wife and 5 children are all British citizens. Bisher’s family has lived in the UK for 20 years, and they are all British citizens except Bisher, who has long been recognised as a refugee. His family fled Iraq as Bisher’s father had been detained and tortured by Saddam Hussein’s regime. The British government’s refusal to make representations on their behalf means that they are without any diplomatic support. Jamil El-Banna is married with 5 children. Bisher al Rawi is married with 4 children.

Jamil El-Banna and Bisher al Rawi are friends. They both prayed at the same mosque and lent a helping hand in the Arab community. They are both imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. Bisher persuaded Jamil to come to the Gambia to set up a business scheme developed by Bisher’s brother, Wahab. The idea was to take advantage of the peanuts that grew plentifully there, and offer a mobile peanut processing plant that could turn the crop into oil. Wahab sank £250,000 into the programme, expecting to reap handsome profits.

The plan began to unravel before they even left the UK. The police detained Bisher and Jamil, and alleged that they were carrying a dangerous weapon abroad. Their lawyer, Gareth Peirce, went to the Argos catalogue store and bought an identical "weapon" – proving that it was a battery charger. Two MI5 agents then reassured Jamil and Bisher that they had nothing to worry about going to the Gambia.

The moment they arrived at Banjul airport in Gambia on 8 November 2002, they were arrested. Far from being "on the battlefield", they were further from Kabul than London is. According to the Gambian authorities, the arrest was made at the request of the British Government. Jamil reports how a U.S. interrogator said, "Why are you angry at America? It is your Government, Britain, the MI5, who called the CIA and told them that you and Bisher were in Gambia and to come and get you. Britain gave everything to us. Britain sold you out to the CIA."

The two men were held in total isolation in a "Dark Prison" for 2 weeks. It was so dark that Jamil couldn’t see his fingers. During this time he was punched, dragged along the floor and kicked. It was winter, but Jamil only had a t-shirt, no shorts and no blanket.

They were then moved to Bagram Airforce Base. This was when Jamil’s wife first heard from him, through the ICRC. He asked her how her pregnancy was going and to pray for his safe return.

Since being taken to Guantanamo, Jamil has had health problems. He is diabetic, but in 2004 they stopped giving him special meals, saying they were "too expensive". Once Jamil refused a shower in protest after soldiers had repeatedly desecrated the Qu’ran. They took him out and cut his beard and all his hair off.

Bisher al Rawi is in an emotionally fragile state and he prays for an end to this "dismal and depressing reality". "I don’t see hopeful signs yet. I am waiting for something like a miracle – or better still, a real miracle – to resolve this problem." His participation in the hunger strike over the past months has left his body weak and malnourished. "I have to tell you it is extremely strange being in this existence, without food for so long. I never would have imagined this would happen to me that I would involve myself in such an action – I pray that it will be fruitful."

Jamil and Bisher have had little contact with their families. Sabah El-Banna has only had 2 letters from her husband in 3 years. Jamil was finally given 13 letters from his wife after a long legal battle with the US authorities holding the letters. Jamil al-Banna has never seen his youngest daughter who was born in April 2003 while he was in detention.

Despite their legal status in the UK, the British Government has refused to take any step to help Jamil and Bisher come home. They do not care that Bisher has been living in the UK for 20 years, or that Jamil has 4 children born in Britain.

"He's not a British national and therefore we're not able to take up his interests."

UK Foreign Office spokesperson

"Politics has it that I need to be British to get any help. Am I not? How come? As any Military Police personnel in Gitmo, where’s this guy from? Answer, they will say Britain! Check my incoming mail and you will find it’s from Britain. The first interrogation I had…has been by Brits. Mt GP, my local mosque, my teens, my education, employment, friends, taxes, home, and above all else, my family – it is in Britain. I may not be British according to some piece of paper, but in reality I am a Brit and I always will be…It’s the Brits that have the ability to stop the injustice that is going on here – to me and many others."

Jamal Kiyemba, February 2005

Having grown up in the UK, with his immediate family here, Jamal feels more British than Ugandan, and asked the UK Government to help him return to his family. However, the British Government refused to intervene. On October 28th, 2005, the US and his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, agreed he would be sent to Uganda. Since Britain had abandoned him, there was no other option.

His detention in Guantanamo is only the latest chapter in Jamal’s hard life. He was born in Uganda, to a catholic family. When he was 2 years old, his mother moved to the UK, leaving him with his father. When he was 7, his parents embarked on a messy custody battle. Jamal’s father was killed in a tragic car crash, and Jamal then had to live with his 3 aunts, who passed him around out of fear that his mother would kidnap him. Their fears were confirmed when a private detective posed as his uncle and collected him from school. He was taken straight to the UK. Jamal was sent back to Uganda by his mother in 1996. He was given no warning. Fortunately, Jamal was helped by his great-aunt to return to the UK, and he started at Leicester University in 1997 where he studied Pharmacy and converted to Islam.

Jamal Kiyemba was seized while driving with friends by the Pakistani military, at gunpoint on the 19th March 2002. After the assailants had taken their money and any other items of value, the group were bound and blindfolded, and taken to a disused police station where they were left overnight. The following morning, Jamal, still bound and blindfolded, was taken to be "interrogated" by a Pakistani officer. Jamal then spent 3 weeks in a hole in the ground being interrogated by US agents. He was taken to an airfield outside Peshawar, then to Bagram airforce base. This was the first time he had ever been to Afghanistan. He was held there from the start of June until October 27th, 2002. Total silence was enforced at gunpoint. "The (call to prayer) was considered talking and the caller would be punished. The same applied to reciting the Qu’ran. I was punished for an audible recitation of the Qu’ran, and the second time for audibly making the call to prayer. No group prayers were allowed."

During interrogation, Jamal was subjected to a routine where he was hung on a door for 2 hours, allowed to sit for half an hour, and then hung up again; he was not allowed to sleep. The American interrogators told him that if he did not admit to having planned jihad in Afghanistan, then what lay ahead for him was far worse than what he had already faced. In Bagram, Jamal witnessed the murder of a prisoner who tried to escape.

After he arrived in Guantanamo, Jamal was exceptionally polite and co-operative. However he became a victim of the abuse of the Extreme Reaction Force (ERF), which is supposed to enforce discipline at Guantanamo. Jamal has also suffered from medical problems: on 7th March 2005, he told his lawyer: "I feel as if something or someone is on my chest trying to squeeze the life out of me. I cannot move. Sometimes I feel I cannot breather. Sometimes I feel something is covering my mouth to stop me calling for help. I am grabbed by panic. I seem to hear what is going on around me, but I cannot move. I seem to see part of the room I am in…but I cannot turn to see the rest. ..It happened to me first when I was locked up in Pakistan. Here it is more frequent. Maybe 2 or more times a week."

"The youngest…he doesn't even know who his Daddy is because he has never seen him or spoken to him until this day" – Mrs Z. Aamer

Shaker Aamer has a home in Battersea with his British wife and four British children, the youngest of whom he has never seen. His application for British citizenship was in progress when he was seized in Afghanistan and imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay. He has been threatened with rendition to Egypt If the British Government denies him the rights to return to this country, his wife will be without a husband and his young family without their father

Shaker grew up in Medina, in Saudi Arabia. He left home when he turned 17, and went to America. He spent a happy year in Maryland, before returning to Saudi Arabia. Then he travelled in Europe and the Middle East, before moving to London where he met his wife Zinnira Siddique, and started a family. Zinnira said she married Shaker because she saw the kindness in his heart, and he made her laugh. "He is so funny. If he was here now, he would make you laugh." Shaker was a hands-on dad, changing nappies without complaint and entertaining the baby. Michael was born in 1999, and Saif a year later. Shaker always told Zinnira that he wanted 12 children, but he has never set eyes on his 4th child, as Faris was born after 2002, after Shaker had been seized by the US Military.

Shaker worked as an Arabic translator for the solicitor who advised him on his immigration case. People always approached him for advice about their problems, and translating for refugees put Shaker where he loved to be – in the role of counsel, listening and advising. He needed more work to support his expanding family, but he was hampered by his immigration status. Until he had British nationality, it would be hard. Shaker dreamed of starting his own business selling clothes. He travelled to the Middle East, collecting samples of material. Shaker and Zinnira wanted to find a perfect home for their family, and better opportunities for Shaker, while his status in Britain was resolved. They decided to look in a Muslim country. They made trips to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and, in June 2000, Shaker visited Afghanistan to do voluntary work for an Islamic charity. He stayed in Kabul, sharing a house with Moazzam Begg, the British detainee released from Guantanamo in January 2005. Soon after he arrived in Afghanistan the country was pitched into war in the wake of 9/11. When the bombing in Kabul began, Shaker moved to Jalalabad and, fearing he would be taken prisoner by the Northern Alliance, went into hiding with an Afghani family. Soldiers arrived and seized him at gunpoint. He was sold, first to the Northern Alliance, and then to a group in Kabul. He was taken to somewhere outside Kabul in the middle of the night. A helicopter arrived, and when he heard the sound of American accents, he was filled with relief. But he had been sold yet again, this time to the U.S.

Shaker was taken to the Dark Prison in Kabul where he suffered such torture that he cannot talk about it. Then he was taken to Bagram Airforce Base where he was forced to stay awake for 9 days without food. Next he was taken to Kandahar where he suffered yet more cruelty. "They were jumping up and down on me in their boots, on my back and head. Yelling about my religion, my family and my race. A soldier took the holy Qu’ran and threw it in the shit bucket on the floor."

When Shaker arrived in Guantanamo, he was assured he would never leave. "You’ve come to your end. You will not be going anywhere from here." Shaker says he was thrown to the ground, beaten and stripped naked, and that the soldiers stuck their fingers up his anus. When he was eventually given his prison uniform, they gave him clothes many sizes too small. It was the beginning of a ritual of humiliation and abuse that has lasted without respite for nearly 4 years.

Because he is well-educated and acts as a translator for the other prisoner, the U.S. Military named him "The Professor". They think because of the status that is bestowed on him he must be a major leader among the prisoners Because of this, Shaker was kept in isolation for a year. He had no window and only an opening for the air-conditioning. He was often kept in freezing conditions in nothing but shorts. His frame wasted from lack of food, and he was denied a tooth-brush for 8 months.

Shaker has been treated brutally during interrogations. In the interrogation room, Shaker is tied up on the floor for hours before the interrogation begins. Frozen by the air conditioning, he is not allowed to use the toilet and defecates himself.

Despite all the attempts to break his humanity, Shaker remains the kind and supportive man Zinnira remembers. He looks out for his fellow detainees, acting as "next friend" for those without a lawyer.

Zinnira and her 4 children have been waiting 4 years for their husband and father to return home. "Whenever Shaker travelled before he would always come home quickly because he missed his family. He is taking a long time this time." Zinnira received sporadic letters from Shaker until June 2003. She has heard nothing from him in over 2 years. Shaker has written his wife a 20 page letter, but his lawyer is not allowed to deliver it. The children do not know where their father has gone. Zinnira says, "My children are very sensitive, so I have told them he has gone abroad to study. I think they would take it very badly if they knew the truth."

The absence of her husband has taken an immense toll on Zinnira’s health and she has spent some time in hospital. She would wander the corridors knocking on doors. When the person came out asking why she was knocking on the door she said "I am looking for my husband."

Whilst the British Government is refusing to make representations on his behalf, Shaker is on hunger strike. In a recently declassified statement, Shaker wrote:

"I am dying here every day, mentally and physically. This is happening to all of us. We have been ignored, locked up in the middle of the ocean for many years… I have problems many problems from the filthy yellow water…I have lung problems from the chemicals they spread all over the floor…I am already arthritic at 40 because I sleep on a steel bed, and they use freezing air conditioning as part of the interrogation process. I have ruined eyes from the permanent, 24-hour fluorescent lights. I have tinnitus in my ears from the perpetual noise…I have ulcers and almost permanent constipation from the food. I have been made paranoid, so I can trust nobody not even my lawyer. I was over 250 lbs. I dropped to 130lbs in the hunger strike. I want to make it easy on everyone, I want no feeding, no forced tubes, no 'help', no 'intensive assisted feeding.' This is my legal right."

Clive A. Stafford Smith, Omar’s lawyer and Legal Director of Reprieve.

Omar Deghayes is a long term British resident, a refugee from Libya, who has been detained in Guantanamo Bay, a victim of mistaken identity and grotesque injustice. He is being held without charge in Guantanamo, and the British Governent takes the position that as Omar is not a British citizen they cannot make representations on his behalf. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said: "We can represent British citizens (but) we cannot represent those who choose not to seek British citizenship and make their own choices presumably because they want to maintain the citizenship of their birth." Omar has been visited by Libyan officials in Guantanamo where he was told "You have no problems with the U.S. You’re problems are with us."

Omar moved to the U.K as a teenager and secured refugee status after his father, Amer, had been murdered by the Gadaffi regime. Amer was a prominent lawyer in Libya who pioneered the trade union movement. When Gadaffi came to power in 1968 Amer was offered the post of Foreign Minister. Recognizing that the regime he was being asked to join was oppressive, Amer declined. He was a man of integrity, an idealist who believed in justice. Because of this Amer was consistently harassed and threatened.

One Sunday in February 1980, during the family’s weekly gathering, Gadaffi’s men came for Amer. He was executed 3 days later. Viewed as counter-revolutionaries, the rest of the Deghayes family was then a target for persecution. It took 6 years, but Amer’s wife Zohra managed to get them all out. They went to the U.K, settling in Brighton, which they had been visiting for years and where they had many friends. Even in the U.K. the family continued to receive threats from Libya.

Omar and his family were given refugee status in 1987, recognized by the U.K and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). Omar was grateful for his refuge. He and his brother Monder played football on Sundays for their local team and Omar contemplated trying out for Brighton and Hove Albion.

Omar had inherited his father’s compassion and sense of justice. He did voluntary work for Sussex Prison Service, giving religious guidance to Muslim prisoners. On one occasion he persuaded 3 Muslim asylum seekers to give up their hunger strike. While the rest of his family took out British citizenship, Omar did not, as he felt committed to his father’s dream of bringing justice to Libya. He studied Law at university, took the legal practice course, and was a student member of the Law Society.

As his studies ended, Omar decided to take a year off to see with his own eyes how people in Muslim countries lived. His refugee status made it difficult to visit many countries, but in 2000 he went to Afghanistan, as he was able to get permission to stay and was told there would be plenty of scope for helping the poor. It was in Afghanistan that Omar met and married his wife who became pregnant with his son, Suleiman.

In the wake of 9/11, Omar feared for his family’s safety and went to Pakistan, intending to travel from there back to the U.K. But Omar, his wife and baby were seized and handed to the U.S. A Libyan delegation led by Gadaffi’s elder son tried to force his wife and baby to go to Libya. They only barely escaped. Meanwhile, Omar was sent to Bagram Airforce Base. Some months later Omar’s mother Zohra received a card in Brighton that read "Mum, I’m in Guantanamo Bay."

Omar did not understand why he was being held and the U.S. authorities have refused to provide him with any official charge. However, 3 years after his false arrest, it is possible to reconstruct how the U.S. military made their mistake. In a search, Spanish authorities seized a videotape depicting Islamic rebels in Chechnya. An anonymous informant then identified a rebel in the video as Omar, whereupon the Spanish added a subtitle to identify the person on the tape as "Mr. Deghayes". On the basis of this the Spanish issued a warrant for Omar’s arrest, and passed the tape onto the U.S. authorities. The tape was then aired on an episode of the tabloid TV program America’s Most Wanted, with Omar identified as a Chechen rebel. Omar’s story was eventually investigated and told by the BBC. The BBC was able to secure a copy of the Spanish tape: immediately Omar’s lawyer and family saw the tape they knew it was not Omar. An independent expert, Doctor Tim Valentine, concluded that the person on the tape was definitely not Omar Deghayes. Indeed, it was later confirmed that the person on the tape was one Abu Walid a Chechen rebel who was killed in April 2004.

This has now been brought to the attention of the U.S. authorities, but Omar continues to be held without charge.

Because the British government wants to believe that that Col. Gadaffi has reformed his style of Government, the British currently take the position that Omar must apply to Libya for "consular assistance". Since arriving in Guantanamo, it is clear what kind of "consular assistance Omar can expect from the Libyans. He received visits from Libyan officials on September 9th and 11th 2004. They said to him: You have no problems with the U.S. Your problems are with us." They repeatedly told him, "We know everything about you and your anti-Gaddafi activities."

Omar Deghayes continues to be the victim of some of the harshest abuses un Guantanamo because he is an educated mad who speaks fluent English, and therefore tries to intercede on behalf of the other prisoners. In one incident, Omar was ERF’d where the soldiers saturated his eye with pepper spray, and then used fingers to gouge at his eyes:

"They gouged my eyes and left me permanently blind in my right eye. While I can see nothing out of it, my eye is very sensitive to light. It is particularly painful when they leave the bright neon lights on all the time. I had an injury when I was a child to that eye, and it is very sad that after all the efforts my parents went to save my sight then, I have now been blinded forever."

"I chose Britain because as an African…I felt more comfortable that I would receive hospitality from the British people and fairness from the British government." Binyam Mohammed

Binyam Mohammed is an Ethiopian refugee who lived in North Kensington. He had been in Afghanistan, leaving just after September 11th because of the escalating violence. He was seized in Pakistan whilst trying to return to the UK after all his travel documentation was stolen. Binyam was questioned in Pakistan by the U.S, and then rendered to Morocco by the CIA where he was tortured until out of desperation he confessed to being part of a "dirty bomb plot". He arrived in Guantanamo in September 2004, after spending 5 months in the "Dark Prison" in Kabul and then Bagram Airforce Base. On November 7th 2005, the U.S "charged" Binyam and he now faces "trial" before the universally derided U.S. military commission. The U.K. government is silent on his behalf, and as a refugee and British resident, Binyam has no other hope of consular assistance.

Binyam was born in Ethiopia. His father, Ahmed, worked for Ethiopia Airlines Binyam always looked up to his brother, Benhur, who is 6 years older than him, but was closest to his younger sister, and was Anna’s best friend growing up. "Binyam was popular at school, and everyone would want to be on his team for games of football or other sports," she recalls. "Binyam enjoyed athletics and was the fastest runner on the school track team. He was gifted academically and was one of the top students in his class. His favourite subject was maths." What Anna remembers best is that her brother would never lie. "There were several times when Binyam had done something wrong, and instead of lying to get out of trouble, he would admit what he had done. Our father would often reward Binyam for his honesty by taking him out for ice-cream."

After the Government changed in Ethiopia, Binyam and his family were in danger. They opposed the communist Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front as, in Binyam’s words, "The EPRDF was undemocratic, its policies were based on ethnic division and it had no respect for human rights." Binyam went to live with his sister in America for a year, and then sought asylum in the U.K.

He lived in London for 5 years where he obtained 5 GCSEs and was working for an engineering diploma. He was good enough at football to consider a semi-professional career. As a young man Binyam ran into difficulties and started using drugs. He rediscovered Islam, and started volunteering at the cultural centre of his mosque. "He is remembered here as a very nice, quiet person, who never caused any trouble," says Abdulkarim Khalil, the Mosque director.

Binyam decided to travel to escape his old drug haunts and kick the habit. He also wanted to see the Taliban with his own eyes, to decide whether Afghanistan was a "good Islamic country or not." He travelled from London to Afghanistan in June 2001, but after September 11 he fled the violence to Pakistan. He wanted to get back to London, but his travel documents had been stolen from him, so he went to Karachi Airport on April 10, 2002. He was arrested by the Pakistani immigration unit.

On April 20, 2002, the U.S. military showed an interest in him. Binyam is unwilling to lie, but he was also unwilling to talk to them, since he had nothing to do with America. "I refused to talk in Karachi until they gave me a lawyer. I said it was my right to have a lawyer. The FBI said, "The law has been changed. There are no lawyers. You can co-operate with us the easy way, or the hard way."

The U.S. authorities seemed to believe that Binyam was some kind of big fish "The British talked to me in Pakistan. I was there for three and a half months. They checked out my story, and they said they knew I was a nobody. They said they would tell the Americans. I have struggled with how I came to mean such a lot to them."

On July 21st, 2002, Binyam was put on board a C.I.A plane and rendered to Morocco. There, he endured 18 months of torture, including having a razor blade repeatedly taken to his penis. He ultimately confessed to a "Dirty Bomb" plot at a dinner on April 3rd, 2002. Binyam did not even speak Arabic at the time this dinner was alleged to have taken place.

On January 21st, 2003, Binyam was taken from Morocco to the Dark Prison in Kabul, where he underwent 5 more months of torture. He spent more time in Bagram before arriving in Guantanamo in September 2004. As if this catalogue of abuse were not enough, the U.S. chose to charge him on November 7th 2005. He now faces a military commission decried by Lord Steyn as a "Kangaroo Court," and criticised as "rigged to convict" by 3 military prosecutors who resigned rather than continue to take part. Meanwhile, Binyam’s family had been searching for answers since his disappearance. His sister was visited by the FBI in the United States and told that he had done nothing wrong. Benhur travelled to London to try and find his brother. Binyam’s sister Zuhra combed Pakistan by telephone and e-mail. It was only in 2005 that they found out he was in Guantanamo.

In July 2005 Binyam and an unknown number of Guantánamo detainees went on hunger strike to protest against the harsh conditions and their lack of access to any judicial review. They ended the protest because the US authorities agreed to meet their demands to be treated in accordance with the Geneva Conventions, and said that these changes had been personally approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

On 12th August the strike was resumed. In an unclassified statement Binyam said "It is now August 11th 2005. They have betrayed our trust again. Isham from Tunisia was badly beaten during interrogation, and they publically desecrated the Qu’ran 9again). Sa’ad from Kuwait was ERF’d for refusing to go (again) into interrogation because the female interrogator had sexually humiliated him (again) for 5 ½ hours. Omar the kid from Canada was ERF’d (again) for refusing to go to another illegal interrogation. Therefore the strike must begin again. I do not plan to stop until I either die or we are respected. People will definitely die.only ask for justice: treat us, as promised, under the rules of the Geneva Conventions… while we are held, and either try us fairly for a valid criminal charge or set us free".

Binyam Mohammed al-Habashi remains detained in Guantánamo Bay without access to judicial review. His hope is that "the British people will hold the British Government to its word" so that he can "go back home" to London.

"We do not take responsibility for other countries' nationals, purely on the basis of residence in the UK" UK Foreign Office Minister Valerie Amos

Ahmad Errachiddi is a Moroccan who has traveled in London for almost 18 years. A husband and father of two, in 2001 he traveled to Pakistan on a business venture to raise money for medical treatment for his young son. Seeing the Afghan War in television in Pakistan, Ahmed traveled to Afghanistan to offer humanitarian assistance. He soon realized there was nothing he could do to help, and that it was too dangerous for him to stay in Afghanistan. He returned to Pakistan where he was kidnapped by bounty hunters and sold to the U.S. Military. He was eventually taken to Guantanamo Bay, where he remains. His fluent English and caring attitude to other detainees has convinced the military personnel in Guantanamo that Ahmad has some authority among the prisoners. As a result of this they nick-named him "the General" and have subjected him to punitive punishment and kept him in isolation for two years. Ahmad Errachiddi has been before the widely condemned Combatant Status Review Tribunal in Guantanamo where, in his absence, without a lawyer and with no information relating to evidence of the "charges" against him, he was found to be an enemy combatant.

Ahmad Errachidi was born in Tangiers, in Morocco. He has worked as a cook in London for almost 18 years. The best man at Ahmad’s wedding, Mohammed Khenoussi, lives in North London and describes Ahmad as a "loyal, trustworthy and totally unselfish friend." He is a faithful husband, and the devoted father to his two young sons.

Ahmad is a passionate chef, proud of the accolade he earned at the Centuria restaurant on St. Paul’s Road from one food critic, who said that Ahmad’s was the best fish he had ever tasted.

Ahmad’s young son needed a difficult and expensive operation for a blocked tube in his heart. The condition the child suffered from can become fatal without surgery. Ahmad planned a new business venture to eventually pay for the operation. His idea was to take all of his savings and go to Pakistan to buy silver jewellery inexpensively, selling it at a profit in Morocco.

Ahmad flew to Pakistan on September 26th, 2001. He spent time in Islamabad, investigating the viability of his silver business. Leaving his cheap hotel, he watched CNN and Al Jazeera news footage of the U.S. bombings in Afghanistan on a colour television at a nearby mosque. He saw civilians, even children, suffering. Impulsively, he delayed his business plans and went to Afghanistan to offer humanitarian assistance to the civilians there.

Later, in a letter sent from Guantánamo Bay, Ahmad would describe his decision: "I entered Afghanistan to help the poor children and the women and to partake in their calamity, to taste what they taste, and to fear just as they fear, and to be hungry just as they are hungry." Ahmad saw at first hand the ‘collateral damage’ in the U.S. assault on Afghanistan. He vividly describes standing on a hill watching a U.S. plane fly through a clear blue sky to drop a bomb. It struck a busload of men, women and children, and the bus folded like an accordion. As he ran to help, he saw how a woman’s head had split open like an egg, her brains spilling out. Body parts of children were spattered around the roadside.

Ahmad soon became convinced that it was too dangerous for him to stay in Afghanistan, and that he could offer no meaningful support. He was just another burden. It took him several days to get back to Pakistan. He remained in Pakistan for a further month trying to salvage the original purpose of his trip. However, he was seized in Islamabad by Pakistani bounty hunters who sold him to the U.S. military. At that time the U.S. was offering $5,000 – twenty years’ salary for some Pakistanis -- for each foreign Muslim "terrorist" who was handed over.

From Pakistan, Ahmad was transferred to Afghanistan where he spent several months in various detention centres. His true suffering began there. At Bagram Air Base, the sign on the door of the interrogation room read Janaham -- "Hell" in Arabic. After 26 days of torture and interrogation it literally became Hell for Ahmad.

Eventually, he was transferred by the U.S. to Guantánamo Bay, where he remains to date. He was welcomed by an officer who told him: "We’re going to dictate your food, your sleep and when you shit." Ahmad is not inclined to accept such orders, or to keep quiet when he sees an injustice. He speaks English fluently, and when the occasion merits, he speaks it loudly. Because of his constant interventions, the U.S. military thought he was a leader. They dubbed him ‘The General’ and warned him: "You have to get off the stage You put yourself on a place so high that you’ve got a long way to fall." Yet, as Ahmad says, "as a human being I hold the right to give help to another human being regardless of race, religion or creed." Ahmad laughs at the irony of his elevation: "The cook has become the General overnight, charity is now called terrorism, and the U.S. has made the breaking of an egg into the bursting of a bomb."

As a result of the authorities’ perception of him, he has been in punitive isolation for over two years, the longest period served in isolation by any Guantánamo prisoner.

In October 2004, Ahmad went before the widely criticised Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) for review of the ‘charges’ against Ahmad and assessment of Ahmad’s status as an enemy combatant. Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK has said of these tribunals: "US Authorities have spent 3 years preparing Military Commission trial proceedings at Guantanamo that fall below international fair trial standards. "Evidence" extracted under torture can be used in these proceedings, the accused can simply be excluded from his own trial at any moment and there is no independent review of the process whatsoever…"

The burden was on Ahmad to prove his innocence. In this CSRT Ahmad was not given the right to a lawyer. The chef from London became distressed during his pre-CSRT interview when the summary of evidence was read to him. He wanted to know who said he was a member of al Qaida, and of the GICM. He was told that this was secret. When Ahmad demanded justice, the Tribunal President said that, "by his actions … the Detainee chose not to participate in the process." Therefore, the process rolled on without him. Even the Tribunal President conceded that the unclassified evidence against Ahmad was either "not persuasive" or "provided no usable evidence," so he had to rely on "certain classified evidence". Ahmad could not know what this was.

The Tribunal unanimously concluded that Ahmad "is properly classified as an enemy combatant and is a member of, or affiliated with, al-Qaida and was part of or supporting the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group." Sitting in isolation, Ahmad wrote to his mother,

"Know, mother, that your son Ahmad is not in prison because of a crime or drugs or robbery. I am in prison because I wanted to wipe away the tear of a little boy who lost his parents, who has been terrified, so I was moved by his plight and I remembered my infancy. I am a hostage and traded commodity. No matter how long it takes, the days of the sale will come and the market will close its doors and the dust will settle and the buyer and the seller will be known, and only the anecdotes and the memories will remain."

At least 2 other British residents are known to be detained in Guantánamo Bay in addition to those named above. These are: Ahmed Ben Bacha , an Algerian who lived in Bournemouth. His case has recently been filed and little else is known about him.

Abdulnour Sameur , an Algerian refugee who lived in South Harrow, London. He was given refugee status in 2000, and had travel documents. He was seized in Pakistan.

Prominent lawyers and Human Rights experts have consistently pointed out that the fundamental breach of human rights at Guantanamo Bay is to render stateless those it detains: They are held beyond the reach of national laws both of their own country and that of the US, as well as international conventions. By failing to acknowledge its responsibility and demand the safe return to the UK of those it once protected, the British government is reneging on its duty and colluding in the continued torture and illegal detention of British residents in Guantanamo Bay.

Zohra Zawawi is the mother of Omar Deghayes. Omar is one of eight British residents, abandoned by the government and languishing in Guantanamo Bay.