Guantanamo Briton tells backers: Demand justice
BRITAIN’S last Guantanamo Bay detainee pleaded his innocence last night as he thanked campaigners who have highlighted the scandal of his ongoing captivity.
Shaker Aamer remains in legal limbo having spent 13 years in military prison without charge or trial. In declassified extracts from the 48-year-old’s letters, shown to the Daily Mail, he told his campaigners: ‘Don’t ask for justice – demand it.
‘I am an innocent man and a good person who never participated in any animal harm let alone [a] human being. We are in Gitmo [the nickname for Guantanamo] as the black sheep of US government.’
Mr Aamer, whose wife and children live in South London, also thanked politicians for
‘I never hurt an animal
let alone a human’
championing his case. He said: ‘I was shocked to see how much these MPs really care. I love these good people, not only for asking to release me, but for their effort to close Guantanamo.’
Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, a member of Parliament’s all-party group on Mr Aamer, used a foreign affairs debate in the Commons yesterday to urge ministers to step up the fight to free Mr Aamer.
‘He has never been charged, never been prosecuted, never been through any legal process whatsoever,’ Mr Corbyn said.
‘Can we have an undertaking from the Foreign Office to follow this up with real vigour to push the Obama administration to name the date by which Shaker Aamer will be released and returned to his family?’
President Obama pledged to ‘prioritise’ the case in January. But nearly six months on, the Saudi-born father-of-four is still behind bars. MPs are concerned the US is refusing to release Mr Aamer because of fears he would expose shocking levels of brutality inside the notorious naval facility in Cuba.
Saudi-born Mr Aamer moved to London almost 20 years ago and married. In 2001 he was detained in Afghanistan while, his supporters say he was doing peaceful voluntary work for an Islamic charity.
He was handed to the US military for money and tortured at a secret ‘black site’ prison. He has twice been cleared for release: by President George W Bush in 2007 and President Obama in 2009.
The Daily Mail has campaigned for the closure of Guantanamo and the release of Mr Aamer.