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Shaker Aamer 'fears he will die in Guantánamo Bay' Shaker Aamer fears he will die in Guantánamo Bay
(about 3 hours later)
The last British resident held in Guantánamo Bay claims he is subjected to physical abuse and fears he will not make it out alive despite being guaranteed release in a matter of days, according to reports. The last British resident in Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, fears he will die in the US detention camp despite his promised release, warning his family there are people “who do not want me ever to see the sun again”.
Shaker Aamer, who is currently on hunger strike protesting against abuse by his guards, has told his wife and children in London that he could die in captivity, the Mail on Sunday reports. The 46-year-old, who is married to a British woman and lived in London before his detention by US forces in Afghanistan in late 2001, has also detailed what he says has been severe and persistent torture and mistreatment while in American custody.
The 46-year-old is set to be freed after more than 13 years in detention without charge. He cannot be released immediately because the US administration had to give Congress 30 days’ notice of his release. Just over a week ago Barack Obama’s administration told the US Congress it intended to free Aamer within 30 days, and return him to Britain, where his wife and four children live.
“I know there are people who do not want me ever to see the sun again,” he told the paper. “It means nothing that they have signed papers, as anything can happen before I get out. So if I die, it will be the full responsibility of the Americans.” But in a phone call with his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, following the announcement, Aamer remained sceptical this will ever happen. A transcript of the call was reported by the Mail on Sunday, which has long campaigned for Aamer’s release.
Aamer has made a series of allegations about torture and abuse at the military prison in Cuba. He is said to be on hunger strike after he was allegedly assaulted by guards and forced to give blood samples. “I know there are people who do not want me ever to see the sun again,” Aamer told Smith of his captors. “It means nothing that they have signed papers, as anything can happen before I get out. So if I die, it will be the full responsibility of the Americans.”
Aamer has described being held in a freezing cold aircraft hangar during plummeting temperatures in winter in Afghanistan. He also claims a British intelligence officer was present when his head was repeatedly beaten into a wall by Americans during interrogations. In another section of the call he passed a message to his family: “I will be very sick when I come back home. If anything happens to me before I do, it will be the Americans who are responsible. I am not going to do anything to myself. I know there are people who, even now, are working hard to keep me here.”
Two years ago he submitted a witness statement to the Metropolitan police detailing his ordeal, according to the Mail on Sunday. He reportedly told detectives he was “abused by the US military from the day I arrived”. Aamer also told his lawyer he still faces abuse by US guards, and went on hunger strike in August to protest at his blood being forcibly taken for testing.
The British resident, who has a wife and four children living in Battersea, south London, has said he was originally seized by bounty hunters while working as a charity worker in Afghanistan in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks. Separately, the Mail on Sunday has printed extracts of a lengthy statement Aamer gave to the Metropolitan police two years ago in which he detailed the alleged brutality he faced after being handed to US troops while in Afghanistan. The police force is investigating allegations of UK complicity in torture and rendition.
Aamer was handed over to US forces and in February 2002 was transferred to Guantánamo Bay and accused of aiding al-Qaida. He was accused of being associated with Osama bin Laden but was never charged. Aamer insists he was in the country to do charity work. The US has described him as a senior al-Qaida figure who knew Osama Bin Laden, but despite holding him for 14 years has never charged him with any offence.
In 2007 the allegations were dropped and he was cleared for release but, despite a formal request for his return by then foreign secretary David Miliband, the US authorities refused to allow him to go. In his statement Aamer recounted being flown to the US’s Bagram air base in Afghanistan shortly before Christmas 2001, where he was stripped naked and kept in a cage inside a hanger. Once there, Aamer said, he was subjected to sleep deprivation and beatings, including having his head knocked repeatedly against a wall.
Although it was winter, there was no heating in the hanger, he said, adding: “I thought I was going to die from hypothermia.”
Aamer said he was interrogated by British agents at Bagram, who would have known people were being tortured there. He said: “All the time I had been in the tent I was hearing the screams and cries of others who were being abused. It was not possible for Brown to be there, or to be there interrogating me, without hearing this and knowing about our abuse.”