Last UK resident to be freed from Guantanamo after 13 years

LONDON, United Kingdom – Shaker Aamer, the last British resident to be held at Guantanamo Bay, is to be released by US authorities to Britain after over 13 years at the top-security facility, officials said Friday, September 25.

“We have been notified by the US government that it has decided to release Shaker Aamer to the UK,” a government spokesman said.

Aamer was captured in Tora Bora in northern Afghanistan in December 2001 before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in February 2002, where he has been held ever since.

He is alleged to have been a key Britain-based recruiter and financier for the Al-Qaeda militant network and purportedly worked for Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to US military documents.

A US defense official speaking on condition of anonymity said the decision had been taken “taking into consideration the robust security assurances” provided by Britain about how the transfer would take place.

Neither side gave further details of when the transfer would take place or what would happen to Aamer, who was born in Saudi Arabia, after he returns to Britain.

President Barack Obama has vowed to close the military prison in Cuba but has struggled in the face of opposition in Congress and other countries reluctant to take in one-time terror suspects.

Some 114 detainees remain in the prison opened to hold terror suspects following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Amid pressure for his release from MPs and celebrities including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Prime Minister David Cameron raised Aamer’s case with Obama when he visited the White House in January.

British human rights charity Reprieve, which has been representing Aamer, said he was first cleared for release in 2007.

Aamer is a permanent resident of Britain who is married to a British woman and the couple have four children who live in London.

Reprieve says he was volunteering for a charity in Afghanistan when he was captured in 2001. – Rappler.com