Taher Deghayes, Insight

Taher Deghayes’ brother Omar was illegally held in Guantánamo Bay for five years by the US military, and I drank tea with him on the day on after Omar's release, in his Saltdean living room while his brother slept upstairs in his bed for the first time in half a decade. One of the most surreal and, I'm almost ashamed to say, moving interview's I've ever done. Insight, March issue:


Community
For the last six years, our lives have been Omar. He has framed every family debate we have had. Our mother is the centre of the family and there has not been a night that she has not thought of Omar. However, it’s made us stronger as a family, because we have stuck together throughout all of this. The sense of community has been incredible – I never realised how many caring people there are around you, until this happened. I would always look at those people who handed out the Socialist Worker and I would think that they were nutters, but it’s these nutters who have been ensuring that our democracy is safeguarded that our basic values and human rights are observed. The sancity of human life and the appreciation of our fundamental rights and values is what makes us civilized in the so-called West. It’s the best system that I believe to exist, is this thing – above anything else – that makes me proud to be British.

Moral strength
As a family, we were always brought up to differ, to disagree, to hold different opinions. In Guantánamo Bay, it was the members of al-Qaeda who were released one year in, because they knew how to keep their head down and not anger the guards, they knew what to do in prison, but my brother, because of how he was raised, and because of the fact he was English and held a law degree, would not bow his head, he kept on criticizing the guards and pointing out abuse where he saw it. This is why they did not let him go. When I saw him, I was so worried that they would have broken his spirit – I mean, there were days when I thought that I could not cope with it – but when I saw him in court yesterday [we spoke to Taher the day after Omar was granted bail], and I saw that he standing proud with so much to say, I knew that they could not break him.

Faith
What has kept us going? Three things: our faith, our community and our belief in the rule of law. It is destiny. It is hard to explain, but if you believe in your destiny and accept it – not in a complacent way – then you can keep waking up in the morning. It is like when you have a bad day and nothing is going well, what keeps you going is the knowledge that one day things will be better. The community that the campaign has brought together, our friends, and the friends we never met [has been incredible]. I feel proud to have been a part of this.

Family celebration
We had a bottle of wine and a family meal last night. A bottle of champagne – non-alchoholic champagne!

The moment we saw him
Really, really good.