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You are here: Home / Archives for Shaker Aamer

Gitmo survivor calls for amnesty so officials may confess their war crimes

December 15, 2015 by Nasheman

“Everything that happened to us is a war crime in Guantánamo,” says freed detainee held for 14 years without charge

"I just want people to tell the truth," says Shaker Aamer. (Photo: BBC/Screenshot)

“I just want people to tell the truth,” says Shaker Aamer. (Photo: BBC/Screenshot)

by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams

Despite being held for 14 years without charge at Guantanamo Bay; despite the torture, beatings, and psychological trauma he says he endured there; and despite signs that British intelligence agents knew of the abuse, 48-year-old Shaker Aamer says top UK officials should be granted legal immunity if it will encourage them to tell the truth about their government’s complicity in such atrocities.

“They should be guaranteed that they are not going to go behind bars, so they can tell their part of the story,” Aamer said in an interview with ITV News, his first since returning to the UK in October.

Comparing the U.S. military prison to Harry Potter’s Azkaban—where creatures suck the happiness from criminals—the father of two said Guantánamo Bay is designed to “destroy a human being totally”—mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Beaten, hog-tied and deprived of being able to pray: Shaker Aamer tells @itvnews his story of life at Guantanamo https://t.co/tsEvjfWO0P

— ITV News (@itvnews) December 14, 2015

Aamer called for U.S. President Barack Obama to shut down the offshore prison immediately.

“Everything that happened to us is a war crime in Guantánamo,” he said. “Everything that is happening right now is a war crime in Guantánamo.”

“My message to the President of the United States [Barack] Obama … that if he wants to be the hero, to close Guantánamo,” Aamer continued. “If he really wants to establish justice, if he really wants to live by his word, he’s not going to need to wait for the whole United States of America to support him. He should practice his right as a president, his right as the head of the army, and just close it—close it and the brothers they will help him, if you start thinking about the brothers in Guantánamo as human beings, they will help you to close it.”

In a separate interview with the BBC, also broadcast Monday, Aamer said he does not intend to sue the UK government. “I don’t believe the court will bring justice because of what happened in the past,” he said. “I do not want to prosecute anybody. I do not want anybody to be asked about what his role [was] in the past. I just want people to tell the truth.”

Aamer said he was “80, 90 percent” sure that on one occasion, a British intelligence officer was present when an American interrogator was beating his head against a wall.

Watch the full BBC interview, in which Aamer speaks about being reunited with his children after more than a decade of abuse and isolation, below:

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: GUANTANAMO, Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, United Kingdom

Shaker Aamer: Last UK Guantanamo Bay detainee released after 14-year detention

October 30, 2015 by Nasheman

Shaker Aamer has never been charged with any offences and has maintained his innocence

Shaker Aamer has been kept in Guantanamo Bay for 14 years but has never been charged or tried.

Shaker Aamer has been kept in Guantanamo Bay for 14 years but has never been charged or tried.

by Rose Troup Buchanan, Independent

Shaker Aamer, the last British resident detained in Guantanamo, has been reportedly released and is flying back to his wife and four children in London.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed to Sky News Mr Aamer had been released. His plane is believed to be due to land in the UK at around midday today.

Co-director of the We Stand With Shaker campaign Andy Worthington also said he had confirmation from Mr Aamer’s lawyer he is due to return.

“We’re delighted to hear that his long and unacceptable ordeal has come to an end,” he told Press Association. 

“We hope he won’t be detained by the British authorities on his return and gets the psychological and medical care that he needs to be able to resume his life with his family in London.”

Sources within Shaker Aamer’s legal team confirm to @itvnews he is believed to be on flight back to UK. Due to land around lunchtime.

— Stewart Maclean (@stewartmaclean) October 30, 2015

Looks like a plane has left Guantánamo Bay, bound for London. — Reprieve (@Reprieve) October 30, 2015

Cori Crider, Mr Aamer’s US lawyer and strategic director of Reprieve, said in a statement the release was “long, long past time.” “Shaker now needs to see a doctor, and then get to spend time alone with his family as soon as possible.” Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen cautioned: “After so many twists and turns in this appalling case, we won’t really believe that Shaker Aamer is actually being returned to the UK until his plane touches down on British soil.” “We should remember what a terrible travesty of justice this case has been, and that having been held in intolerable circumstances for nearly 14 years Mr Aamer will need time to readjust to his freedom,” Ms Allen said in a statement. The 46-year-old Saudi Arabian citizen has been held in the US dentention centre for 13 years without trial. His case was debated in the House of Commons in March, and MPs have lobbied Washington to urgently address his transfer – which was cleared in 2007. Prime Minister David Cameron has personally lobbied on behalf of Mr Aamer, urging Barack Obama to free the Guantanamo detainee in June of this year.  A Downing Street source claimed Mr Cameron told the US president: “We are very clear we need to find a resolution to the case of Shaker Aamer.” On Friday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn congratulated Mr Aamer’s team on the release, calling it “great news.”

Great news. Huge congratulations to his family, Reprieve, Shaker campaign! Shaker Aamer released from Guantánamo Bay https://t.co/p1UJPoucEK

— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) October 30, 2015

#ShakerAamer As chair of All Party Group on Shaker Aamer I’m breathing sigh of relief he’s on way home to family.Well done to campaigners.

— John McDonnell (@johnmcdonnellMP) October 30, 2015

Mr McDonnell told The Mirror he was “breathing a heavy sigh of relief” following Mr Aamer’s release. “Shaker was simply a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, a charity worker building wells in Afghanistan who was kidnapped, ransomed and falsely imprisoned.”

Mr Aamer, whose British wife and four children live in London, has British residency and permission to reside indefinitely in the UK. He has not seen his family in 14 years.

He was imprisoned in Afghanistan after being accused of working with al-Qaeda.

A Reprieve report, published earlier this year, detailed the horrific torture he claims US interrogators meted out in an attempt to make him sign a false confession. Mr Aamer later said he would have told interrogators “he was Bin Laden” to make the torture stop.

Dr Emily Keram, an American doctor who was able to visit him in Guantanamo, diagnosed Mr Aamer with acute post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), migraines, digestive problems, swelling, asthma and tinnitus. She recommended urgent treatment for the “serious medical concerns” in the UK.

Guantanamo Bay detention centre was established in 2002 by the US government. Following a successful Freedom of Information request, the centre admitted to holding 779 men and boys over the course of its use. Mr Obama had promised to close the facility – condemned globally by international human rights organisations – but as of June this year 116 individuals remain imprisoned in the centre. That number will now stand at 115.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: GUANTANAMO, Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, UK, United Kingdom, United States, USA

After 13 Years without charge, Shaker Aamer to be freed from Guantanamo

September 26, 2015 by Nasheman

‘He has been tortured and abused for more than a decade, and what he wants most is to be left alone with his family to start rebuilding his life.’

Shaker Aamer has been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial since 2002. (Photo: File)

Shaker Aamer has been held at Guantánamo Bay without charge or trial since 2002. (Photo: File)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

Shaker Aamer, the last remaining UK prisoner in Guantánamo Bay prison, will be released and allowed to return home, a British government spokesperson announced Friday.

Aamer, 46, a Saudi citizen and UK resident, has been held at the U.S. military base in Cuba for 13 years without charge and has twice been cleared to go home. A report last month revealed that the Pentagon had been actively blocking his release, despite participating in one of the federal reviews that found he posed no threat to national security and could be returned home.

Reprieve attorney Clive Stafford Smith, who represents Aamer, said the most likely date for Aamer’s return is October 25, absent “robust intervention” by the UK government.

“This is great news, albeit about 13 years too late,” Smith said. “The UK must demand of President [Barack] Obama that he should be on a plane tomorrow, so that Shaker’s family do not have to endure more of the agony of waiting, uncertain every time a phone rings.”

“British politicians may bombasticate about our ‘robust and effective systems to deal with suspected terrorists’ but Shaker is not and never has been a terrorist, and has been cleared by the Americans themselves for 8 years,” Smith continued. “I hope the authorities will understand that he has been tortured and abused for more than a decade, and what he wants most is to be left alone with his family to start rebuilding his life.”

According to his lawyers, Aamer was abducted by bounty hunters in Afghanistan in 2001 and handed over to U.S. forces, who transferred him to Guantánamo Bay two months later. While there, he organized and participated in hunger strikes and other actions to draw attention to torture and mistreatment of detainees, including himself.

Amnesty International USA executive director Steven W. Hawkins said Friday that Aamer’s case is “a symbol of Guantánamo’s utter failure.”

“This is a man who was held without trial or charge for more than 13 years, alleges he was tortured repeatedly, was cleared for transfer twice, and the UK government has asked that he be transferred back to the United Kingdom, yet he still languished in detention from February 2002 until today,” Hawkins said.

Filed Under: Human Rights Tagged With: GUANTANAMO, Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, United States, USA

Guantanamo Bay detainee Shaker Aamer to be released in June

April 27, 2015 by Nasheman

shaker-aamer

Guantanamo Bay detainee and UK resident Shaker Aamer is expected to be freed in June, US government sources have revealed.

The UK has made repeated calls since 2007 for the release of the 48-year-old, who was born in Saudi Arabia but who has a British wife and four children in London, reports the Daily Mail.

Mr Aamer, who has been held at Guantanamo without charge for more than 13 years, is likely to be transferred to an undisclosed country over the summer, probably in June, along with up to 10 other detainees, a US government official said.

The official told AFP that the transfer will take place after a 30-day notice period to Congress, following a sign-off from Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter.

A total of 122 detainees remain at Guantanamo, 57 of whom have been deemed “releasable” by a review committee, including those slated for release this summer.

“The goal is to transfer all 57,” said Lieutenant Colonel Myles Caggins, a Pentagon spokesman. “We’re going to support the President’s mission of closing Guantanamo through transfers of detainees and prosecutions through military commissions,” he said.

US President Barack Obama has repeatedly vowed to close the prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

According to human rights group Reprieve, which represents Shaker Aamer, he was volunteering for a charity in Afghanistan in 2001 when he was abducted and sold for a bounty to US forces.

Reprieve says he was then tortured, and eventually cracked, agreeing to whatever his captors accused him of doing. Satisfied with the confession of an abused and broken man, US forces took him to Guantanamo Bay in February 2002.

He cleared for release in 2007, but this process required no fewer than six US government agencies to agree that he had done nothing wrong, yet he still remained imprisoned.

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: GUANTANAMO, Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer

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