Forum Topic

Bid to Free Wand'sworth's Shaker Aamer form Guantanamo

Shaker Aamer is the last British citizen held in Guantanamo. He has never been convicted of a crime and two American presidents have expressed a willingness to let him go but this country won't have him back despite his family living here in Wandsworth. He is now severely ill and legal action is being taken to try and get him freed.http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26933512

Mark Evans ● 4041d6 Comments

You can't really make a parallel with this man and the Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4. Chris Mullin only started to campaign for the Birmingham 6 when it was plain they were innocent and a huge miscarriage of justice had been done. They were convicted in British courts so it was a British MPs responsibility to see that justice was done. This doesn't apply in the case of Shaker Aamer.

Carmel Cunningham ● 4013d

As I understand it the US detains people in Guantanamo as enemy combatants. It seems to me unlikely that they went around sweeping up charity workers in Afghanistan to fill the jail. As an Saudi national based in Afghanistan orchestrated the mass murder of their citizens it is understandable that they would seek to detain anybody they had some reason to believe might support a repetition of 9/11 erring on the side of caution when it came to proof.It seems odd to me that the Saudi government are not pressing for the release of one of their citizens if he is indeed a hapless charity worker who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.A reasonable assumption is that the Americans have intelligence on this man which makes them concerned that he remains a threat to their national safety. You cannot argue 'innocent until proven guilty' in a case where the proof of guilt can't be put into the public domain. Ultimately it boils down to who you trust. The Americans - who surely have no reason to detain innocent people for this length of time - or Mr Aamer against whom the circumstantial evidence looks powerful and has ever reason to lie about what he was doing.

David Parker ● 4014d

Dear Mr ParkerThank you for your reply and further questions. I will do my best to answer them as fully as I am able.On your first point, if there was sufficient admissible evidence against him, the US authorities would have prosecuted Mr Aamer, as they tried to with another British resident and Guantánamo detainee, Binyam Mohamed. If the evidence is inadmissible in a civilian or military court, it should not be used to detain him indefinitely. Essentially, Mr Aamer should be considered innocent until proven guilty, like anyone who is accused of committing a crime.On why Mr Aamer was in Afghanistan, he has always maintained that he was doing charity work - building a school for girls. Jane Ellison MP has never take a view on this point either way - we just don't know - but if he was acting illegally, it is now of the US authorities to charge or release him.In terms of the difference between release and transfer, it's is a bit technical and is disputed by Mr Aamer's US lawyers. Transfer generally means that the detainee is repatriated but into the custody. Release means that they are set free to whichever country is willing to take them in. To date, Mr Aamer has only ever been cleared for transfer, not release, and only Saudi Arabia (his country by birth) has been linked to any such transfer. Mr Aamer has been clear that he does not want to be transferred to Saudi Arabia, as his family (wife and four children), live in London. It is not clear that the US have made efforts to progress any potnetial transfer to Saudi Arabia, despite him being cleared for several years.On your final point, I understand your concern. However, it cannot be right to hold a man for over 12 years without charging him and with no indication of when he might be released. It is for the US authorities to prove a case against Mr Aamer or release him - indefinite detention without even a trial is unjust.I hope that helps. As ever, if you would like to discuss this further, drop Jane an email at jane.ellison.mp@parliament.uk.Kind regardsJohn HallSenior Parliamentary Assistant to Jane Ellison MP (Battersea)

John Hall ● 4021d

Although there has been no conventional trial of Shaker Aamer my understanding was that all Guantanamo detainees will have had their cases reviewed by a military tribunal and evidence would have been presented to them which would not normally be disclosed in court e.g. intelligence derived information such as wire taps.What is Mr. Aamer's explanation for being in Afghanistan?Can you clarify what exactly is meant by the difference between release and transfer. Is it that Mr. Aamer is being given the choice between a Saudi jail and an American one and chooses the latter?These questions aside I would dismiss an assertion that taking up cases such as these is not an MP's job. The Birmingham Six may still be in jail but for the work of Chris Mullin but Jane Ellison's constituents deserve some reassurance that the case for this man's innocence is strong.

David Parker ● 4026d

John Hall (Senior Parliamentary Assistant) from Jane Ellison MP's parliamentary office here. I would like to clarify a few points about the case of Shaker Aamer, as Jane has been working closely on this for several years.David Parker is correct; Mr Aamer is a Saudi national but a British resident. His wife and children are British citizens and are Battersea constituents. This is an important distinction, as it means the UK Government has no consular access to Mr Aamer in Guantánamo Bay.  Mr Aamer has been held by the US authorities for over 12 years without charge, which is, of course, unacceptable.It is the explicit policy of the British Government to see Mr Aamer returned to the UK to be with his family. UK Government Ministers have said repeatedly and publicly that Mr Aamer should be returned here.Jane also makes many representations on the Aamer family's behalf, in Parliament, in meetings with Ministers, and with US politicians. Mr Aamer's case has been raised by the UK Government with US counterparts at the highest levels many occasions over the past few years. David Cameron raised the case with President Obama directly last year during the G8 summit in Lough Erne. More recently, the Foreign Secretary William Hague reaffirmed to US Secretary John Kerry the importance the UK Government places on the request for Mr Aamer's release, during a visit to Washington DC in February this year. Another important distinction is that both the Bush and Obama administrations have only 'cleared Mr Aamer for transfer’ – not ‘release’. Clearly, they are not willing to release Mr Aamer, as if they were, they would have done so by now. Ultimately, it is for the US authorities to release Mr Aamer, which, at present, they are refusing to do.I hope that this helps clarify the situation. If you have any further questions, please do email Jane at jane.ellison.mp@parliament.uk or write to her at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA.

John Hall ● 4026d

Shaker Aamer is not a British citizen.The Government is not stopping him returning here - the US is. They want him to go to Saudi Arabia the country he is a citizen of. It looks like he could go back to Saudi but has chosen to remain in Guantanamo.

David Parker ● 4041d