Shaker Aamer Released After 13 Years In Guantanamo Bay
Shaker Aamer will be released back to the U.K. after being held for 13 years without being charged with a crime. He was first cleared for release in 2007, but it was only after Amnesty International, the British government, and over a hundred thousand petitioners and protesters pushed the U.S. government did it finally happen.
U.S. government officials announced the release on Friday according to NBC News, after they engaged in a thorough review of his case. He’ll be able to rejoin his wife, a British national, in London as early as October 25.
Northern Alliance soldiers first captured Aamer in 2001 in Afghanistan and took him to Bagram airbase. Authorities then transported him to the Guantanamo military prison on February 14 the next year. According to the Guardian, he was moved the same day his youngest daughter was born.
How Aamer, a legal resident of Britain and Saudi Arabian national, ended up in Afghanistan is still a matter of speculation. His father-in-law reportedly said he was looking for an “Islamic atmosphere” for his wife and children to experience.
His more official purpose was to serve a Saudi Arabian charity working in the area. According to leaked U.S. military documents, on the other hand, Shaker Aamer was an associate of Osama Bin Laden and a charismatic recruiter and financier for Al Qaeda.
Family members have denied the allegations, claiming that they recognized it was a mistake to come to Afghanistan and they were trying to get back home when Northern Alliance soldiers caught Aamer. They say the men were picking up anyone who could fit the role so they could collect bounties from the U.S. government.
Pressure to release Shaker Aamer started as early as 2005, when the man’s lawyers wrote a letter to the British government claiming his release was the “strongest moral obligation.” They claimed his wife had developed a serious mental disorder and even walked to neighboring homes looking for her husband.
Amnesty International took up the case in 2011, calling it a “travesty of justice,” and members of the British government have also made impassioned calls for his release.
U.S. Presidents seem to agree that he isn’t a threat.
George W. Bush’s administration first cleared him for release in 2007. President Barack Obama did the same in 2010. Still, he’s remained in Guantanamo.
His harsh treatment has also continued. His lawyers have claimed he’s been the victim of torture — first weeks of sleep deprivation and stress positions at Bagram, then extended solitary confinement and forced feeding in Guantanamo.
Aamer claims the “forcible cell extraction” team has beaten him more than 300 times.
His U.S. attorney Clive Stafford Smith released a statement saying that Shaker Aamer maintains his innocence but for now just wants privacy.
“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.”
Shaker Aamer’s youngest daughter Johina Aamer tweeted about being able to see her father free for the first time.
Thank you everyone for all the support. The news hasnt hit yet. We can’t believe we might finally see our Dad after 14 years. #ShakerAamer
— Johina Aamer (@JohinaAamer) September 25, 2015
[Image via Reprieve]
