Mohammed el Gharani waits in a Chad police station to be reunited with his family

Mohammed el Gharani spent seven nights in a Chad police station.

The phone never stopped ringing in the police station as I waited with Mohammed for the police to tell us when he would be allowed to walk free.

"When are you coming home Mohammed?" everyone wanted to know, and he kept saying "Tomorrow! They tell me tomorrow!" This would go on for seven days before the Chadians allowed Mohammed to leave the police station a free man.

It had been a long (and seemingly endless) journey of prison visits, court appearances, media work, government lobbying and global investigative work for the Reprieve team. An even longer, more painful, journey for Mohamed, who after seven plus years wrongful and abusive imprisonment, was still only 22 years old.

Both Mohammed and I were in shock that he was finally at the brink of freedom. "I can't believe this---it's like a dream, Ahmed! It's like a dream!" Mohammed would say between telephone calls. And it truly was.