Welsh Church Leaders Appeal for Guantanamo Bay Prisoner

Two Archbishops in the Church of Wales and a leader of the Free Churches have added their signatures to an appeal for a British resident held in Guantanamo Bay.

More than 2,300 people from all parts of Wales have already signed the petition, which asks that former law student Omar Deghayes should be returned to the UK after more than five years in custody without charge or trial.

It also seeks assurances that he will not be sent to a country where he will face further torture. According to the Church in Wales, one Libyan security agent who interviewed Deghayes in Guantanamo threatened, 'In here I cannot do anything, but if I meet you later I will kill you if you don't kill me.'

Welsh MPs and AMs from all parties have endorsed the appeal, which will be presented at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday.

The Anglican Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, the Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, the Most Rev Peter Smith, and the President of the Free Church Council for Wales, the Rev Pamela Cram, added their signatures during a brief ceremony at Ararat Baptist Church in Whitchurch, Cardiff, yesterday.

Omar Deghayes, 36, whose father was executed by the Libyan secret police in 1980, has had refugee status in the UK since 1986, when his mother fled Libya with her five children.

Deghayes was arrested in Pakistan with his Afghani wife and their young son (both later released). He was subsequently detained at Bagram, before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay more than four years ago. He says he has been tortured in three countries.

The petition has been raised by the Welsh churches human rights campaign Christians Against Torture, which insists that torture is always unacceptable in all circumstances. The campaign's supporters have sent Deghayes hundreds of greetings over the past 18 months, and made many appeals on his behalf.

The signatures have been collected from churches in every part of Wales. They will be handed in at Downing Street this Wednesday afternoon by four members of the campaign's steering group, who will be joined by Omar Deghayes' mother and brother.