Navigation menu

Former Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes to tell his story during a visit to the University

Former Guantánamo detainee Omar Deghayes will join journalist, author and film-maker Andy Worthington for a screening of the 74-minute documentary Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo at the University on Thursday 18 March.

Presented by the University's Centre for American Studies, the screening will take place at 5pm in Keynes College Lecture Theatre 1 (Canterbury campus) and is free and open to all. Early arrival is recommended. NOTE: journalists are welcome to attend.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Andy Worthington and Omar Deghayes, one of six former Guantánamo detainees who are suing the British government and its intelligence agencies for alleged complicity in their abuse while detained.

Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington, 'tells the story of Guantánamo with a particular focus on how the Bush administration turned its back on domestic and international laws, how prisoners were rounded up in Afghanistan and Pakistan without adequate screening (and often for bounty payments), and why some of these men may have been in Afghanistan or Pakistan for reasons unconnected with militancy or terrorism (as missionaries or humanitarian aid workers, for example).

'The film is based around interviews with former prisoners (Moazzam Begg and, in his first major interview following his release in December 2007, Omar Deghayes), lawyers for the prisoners (Clive Stafford Smith in the UK and Tom Wilner in the US) and Andy Worthington. It also includes appearances from Guantánamo's former Muslim chaplain James Yee, Shakeel Begg, a London-based Imam, and the British human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce.'

Dr William Rowlandson, Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University and co-organiser of the event, titled The Past, Present and Future of Guantánamo, said: 'The issue of Guantánamo is not yesterday's story. It is shocking to think that our values have slipped to such a degree that capture through bounty, extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention without charge or trial and torture have become normalised and even excused in this era of the 'war on terror'. This is an abomination. Omar Deghayes' tale and Polly Nash's and Andy Worthington's film should re-inspire us to resist this process of normalisation.'

Co-organiser Dr Ruth Blakeley, Lecturer in International Relations at the University's School of Politics and International Relations and author of State Terrorism and Neoliberalisn: The North in the South (Routledge, 2009), added: 'Guantánamo Bay is the visible face of a largely hidden, globalised and extensive US-led network of state terrorism, involving extraordinary rendition, proxy detention and torture. The security services of many states are implicated, including those states that champion liberal democratic values most vociferously. These processes continue, and Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo is vital in uncovering the dark underbelly of globalisation and US imperialism.'

Contact: mediaoffice@kent.ac.uk

Story published at 9:54am 12 March 2010