Tarek Dergoul
| Tarek Dergoul | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 11, 1977 Mile End, United Kingdom |
| Arrested | Afghan militia |
| Released | 2004-03-08 London |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Detained at | Guantanamo |
| ISN | 534 |
| Charge(s) | No charge (extrajudicial detention) |
| Status | Repatriated 2004-03-08 |
Tarek Dergoul is a citizen of the United Kingdom of Moroccan origin who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. He spent six or seven months in US custody in Afghanistan, prior to his arrival at Guantanamo on May 5, 2002. After he was repatriated to the United Kingdom on March 8, 2004, he asserted that conditions in US detention camps was brutal, and he was coerced to utter false confessions.
Dergoul had held a variety of jobs in the UK, including being employed as a care worker at an old age home, and as a mini-cab driver, before traveling to Afghanistan, in 2001, where he was handed over to US forces, and ultimately transferred to Guantanamo.
Dergoul described how he and some friends saw the war as an opportunity, and pooled their funds to become land speculators. Property they purchased from other foreigners, fleeing the war, would be sold for a profit, when peace was restored. Unfortunately they were on one of those properties, when it was struck by an American bomb, killing his friends and seriously wounding Dergoul.
He was one of the first captives to be repatriated—on March 9, 2004.
Dergoul said injuries from his time in US custody prevented him working, after his return to the UK.
Dergoul sued the UK government, claiming its security organizations MI5 and MI6 had been complicit in the interrogations he underwent while in US custody, that violated both the USA's and the UK's obligations under international human rights agreement.
Dergoul, and four other UK citizens, Jamal al Harith, Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul were repatriated in March 2004. After their repatriation, all five men were taken into UK custody, under its Prevention of Terrorism Acts.
But all five men were released less than two days after their arrival, when UK authorities were satisfied there were no grounds for their detention. Four other UK citizens, and nine nationals of other nations, who had long term permission to reside in the UK, remained in US custody in Guantanamo.
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Wikipedia