Brighton acts to bring Binyam back from Guantanamo
Brighton Against Guantanamo is supporting all the efforts to get Binyam Mohamed back to Britain.
If you are based in the Brighton or anywhere along the south coast and are interested in working with us email
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Brighton Against Guantanamo is an outcome of the Save Omar campaign.
Save Omar: we fought against Guantanamo (and we won) Save Omar began as a group of Brighton people who got together to campaign for the release of Guantanamo detainee Omar Deghayes, and his return to his home and family in Saltdean, a neighbourhood in the east of Brighton. Omar has spent six years in prison camps, the first in Bagram Air Base and the next five in Guantanamo Bay. During this time he was never charged with any crime. He had no trial. The Save Omar campaign directed their protests at United States administration responsible for the creation of a network of illegal jails as part of its so-called “war on terror” and the British government, which not only looked away when US systematically tortured detainees but was complicit through the supply of “intelligence” and by refusing to protect refugees, like Omar Deghayes, who been granted asylum in Britain. We worked together against these powerful state authorities and we won. Omar is home. When he returned to Britain in December 2007, he was re-arrested, tagged and subject to a curfew. Spain had instigated extradition proceeding that, three months later, came to nothing. Most people saw through the extradition case; it was political vehicle, serving to justify Guantanamo by defaming those illegally detained there.
Omar’s case demonstrates the local effects of a global war and the role that people can play in their own communities against the abuse of human rights. We helped secure this release from Guantanamo because we were able to explain the existence of such a jail ran counter to any common sense understanding of how the world (local or global) should be. We had justice on our side, if that doesn’t sound too grand. There were also a number of other more practical factors.
The Deghayes family courageously spoke out about Omar’s story and their family history. Establishing the Save Omar group provided some political hope and practical support, ensuring that the Deghayes family did not have to face the global bureaucracy of torture alone. But nor did the Save Omar campaign operate in isolation. It drew upon support from Brighton’s anti-war and human rights movements as well as Brighton’s Muslim community and its wider inter-faith collectives. We built a broad base and earned local legitimacy that secured continued coverage in Brighton’s newspaper, The Argus (http://www.theargus.co.uk). We were difficult to ignore and were quite persistent, always keeping the paper informed of any new developments or pending actions. Importantly, The Argus ran its own principled campaign. A number of committed journalists were genuinely moved by Omar’s case, recognising that he had neither been fairly nor humanely treated. Without doubt, The Argus played a key part in his return to Brighton. Press coverage kept up the pressure on politicians.
At our first public meeting back in the Spring of 2005, human rights lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, stated the court where arguments against Guantanamo would be most effective was the “court of public opinion.” In the campaign to release Omar legal and political battles overlapped. The most significant legal move was the case brought by Omar’s family and that of fellow British resident, Jamil el Banna, against the British Foreign Minister in an attempt to compel his office to intervene to prevent continued their torture in Guantanamo. As well as following the steps taken by Gareth Peirce, who represented the families in the High Court, the Save Omar group attempted to interpret legal language and arguments, carrying out our own reading and research.
But from the very start we understood that Guantanamo was, and is, on our doorstep. Justice for a local man was at the centre of our demands for its closure, for an end to the practice of rendition and detention without trial. People are rightly concerned about what is understood as a return to torture in the twenty-first century and it is important to recognise the conditions that make it is possible for torture to be practiced: the loss of rights in (or through) illegal prisons. Omar’s return to Brighton was a big step for us in this wider struggle to re-assert basic human rights in the face of their erosion in the “war on terror” and there is much still to do. All detainees must be released to countries where they will not suffer further abuse. Brighton Against Guantanamo has been set up to continue the work that Save Omar began. Our methods of working are simple. Our meetings are open. People attend as often as they can and take up whatever tasks they feel able to do. We share skills. We educate ourselves. Our actions include writing letters of protest to politicians and letters of support to detainees as well as participation in street protests, street theatre and community art.
Save Omar Campaign 
