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Shaker Aamer fears he will die in Guantánamo Bay Shaker Aamer fears he will die in Guantánamo Bay
(about 1 hour later)
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”. The last British resident in Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer, still does not fully believe he will be freed from the US detention camp despite his promised release, his lawyer has said.
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. Aamer, 46, who is married to a British woman and lived in London before his detention by US forces in Afghanistan in late 2001, will spend time in hospital on his return to the UK, Clive Stafford Smith said, as his health is so poor after 14 years in captivity.
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. Just over a week ago Barack Obama’s administration told the US Congress it intended to free Aamer in 30 days, and return him to Britain, where his wife and four children still live.
Related: Shaker Aamer, UK's last detainee in Guantánamo Bay, to be freedRelated: Shaker Aamer, UK's last detainee in Guantánamo Bay, to be freed
But in a phone call with his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, following the announcement, Aamer remained sceptical this would ever happen. A transcript of the call was reported by the Mail on Sunday, which has long campaigned for Aamer’s release. Stafford Smith said Aamer, to whom he spoke on the phone soon after the news, remained sceptical: “It’s not so much a matter of disbelieving, as him saying: ‘I’ll believe it when I see it, and I’m not going to get my hopes up till it happens.’”
“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.” He added: “He was cleared in June 2007. That’s eight years and three months ago. So he’s been told for 3,000 days or so he’s going to be freed, and the fact that I come along and tell him he’ll be freed – why would he believe it? He believes it when he touches down at RAF Northolt, and gets to see his wife.”
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.” Aamer alleges he was subjected to sustained torture and mistreatment from the moment he was passed to US authorities in late 2001 in Afghanistan. Aamer insists he was in the country to do charity work. Although the US has described him as a senior al-Qaida figure who knew Osama Bin Laden, he has never been charged with an offence.
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. Stafford Smith said Aamer was still being mistreated in Guantánamo and had told him he feared he would not be allowed to leave alive: “Totally. He told me to make clear to everyone that if he doesn’t make it, it’s not because he did anything.”
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. Separately, a transcript of Aamer’s recent phone call with Stafford Smith was released to the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which has campaigned for the British resident’s release. In this Aamer expresses similar sentiments: “I know there are people who do not want me ever to see the sun again. 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 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. Related: Shaker Aamer: eight key questions answered
In his statement Aamer recounted being flown to the US’s Bagram airbase 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. The newspaper also printed extracts of a statement Aamer gave to the Metropolitan police two years ago in which he detailed the alleged brutality he has faced, part of a Met investigation into allegations of UK complicity in torture and rendition. Aamer said he was interrogated by British agents at Bagram airbase, who would have known he and others were being tortured there.
Although it was winter, there was no heating in the hanger, he said, adding: “I thought I was going to die from hypothermia.” But Stafford Smith said Aamer did not now want to assist any prosecutions. “One of the remarkable things about him is that he really, really doesn’t want any revenge or consequences on people,” he said.
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.” “He’s told the Metropolitan police that he won’t cooperate in any prosecution of one of the small fry who was told to take part in his torture, because he doesn’t think it’s their fault. What he does want, very much, is a sort of truth and reconciliation process, just to make sure no one goes through this sort of nonsense again.”
Once in the UK Aamer would not immediately return to his family: “He’ll go to hospital first. Shaker is very unwell in many ways, and he needs to have a complete medical checkup.”
Related: When Shaker Aamer is free from Guantánamo the slurs will start | Clive Stafford Smith
Reintegration into family life could be long and difficult, he added: “Shaker has some very human fears. He’s been called ‘239’ for so long that he’s worried that he won’t respond to anything else. Indeed, whenever he talks to me he keeps referring to this chap ‘239’. One of Shaker’s greatest fears is that one of his kids will say, ‘Daddy’, and he won’t reply, because he’s not being called 239.”
In his statement to police Aamer recounted being flown to the US’s Bagram airbase in Afghanistan shortly before Christmas 2001, where he was stripped naked and kept in a cage inside a hangar. Once there, Aamer said, he was subjected to sleep deprivation and beatings, including having his head knocked repeatedly against a wall.
The maltreatment had not stopped even now, Stafford Smith said: “They’ve certainly got something personal against him. On the other hand it’s not like anyone else there gets treated nicely.
“One of the things Shaker said to me was that when people talk about torture you tend to think about pulling out people’s fingernails and so forth. But as far as he’s concerned the worst aspect of the torture is the day in, day out mistreatment, and if you don’t do exactly as you’re told you’re beaten up.”