The Terrorist

Omar Deghayes

I know a man who’s in Guantanamo
held four years there without a trial or even charge
although, in fact, to say I know him
isn’t strictly true ( poetic licence
shall we say ) because I know his brother,
hence his background, other family, his faith and all the
other things that make the boy the man.

I know too of his father, murdered by Gaddafi,
and how he brought his sons each year when they were still at school, to England for their holidays because he wanted them to see a country whose first rule was every man could speak his mind quite openly and know that he was free,
a country that took pride in all its civil liberties.

He took them every year to Speakers Corner
and he spoke to them of what it meant to be a citizen of this great land where men and women said their truth and said it without fear,
a place where no man was condemned without due trial and jury of his fellow men,
a country that will champion all those who are oppressed.

He wanted them to follow him into the law and work for human rights.
And Omar did just that.
And now he is, without a trial,
a guest of torture, suffering, despair.

Oh yes, without a doubt, such things are fair-
These men are terrorists.

- Written by Pam Kelly. Shaftesbury, Dorset.

For more information on Omar Deghayes, visit: www.save-omar.org.uk