London, July 5, (Pal Telegraph) - Shaker Aamer, 42, is a British resident who has been held in Guantánamo Bay for seven years. He is a legal permanent resident of the UK, married to a British national, with four children all born and living in London.

Despite President Obama's promise to put an end to the torture - Aamer has been left behind.

Shaker has long been cleared for release by the United States. He has never been charged by the United States with a crime and has never received a trial. However, he has been repeatedly abused and subjected to extended isolation in Guantánamo Bay.

Bush's administration's thought - up torture methods violating international human rights for the 'war on terror', were signed off by President Obama in the beginning of this year. Executive orders were made to shut down Guantanamo Bay detention center, administration officials say it could take a year. After seven years, with no charge or trial, Shaker Aamer's life is still no closer to normailty.

Seized in Pakistan in late 2001, Shaker Aamer has been abused and tortured in Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay. In August 2007, the British government called for his release along with four other men. THEY have all since returned to the UK. Shaker has never been charged or tried yet HE remains the last Londoner still in there.

In a speech Obama stated that Guantanamo Bay must be closed, no one - least of all worried politicians in Congress - should fear that transferred terrorist suspects will be turned loose on American soil. But the world needs reminding of U.S. values, which uphold the importance of human rights.

Six months later Aamer is still waiting for freedom.

Aamer's story starts when, at the age of seventeen, he ran away from an abusive family home in Saudi to America to join a family he had known from home. He spent the next few years travelling in Europe and the Middle East, before moving to London where he met his wife and married. Their first child, Johina, was born in 1997, His son Michael was born in 1999, Saif a year later and little Faris in 2002- after his father had been imprisoned.

While in London, he worked as an Arabic translator for the solicitor who advised him on his immigration case. Helping refugees, friends say, put Shaker where he loved to be - as counsel, listening and advising. But in the end, it was his dedication to the welfare of others that led to his detention in Guantánamo Bay.

In June 2001, Shaker went to Afghanistan to do voluntary work for an Islamic charity. He stayed in Kabul, which was at peace at the time. But after September 11th, the bombing of Kabul began. Fearing he would be taken prisoner by the Northern Alliance, who were suspicious of all Arabs in Afghanistan he went into hiding with an Afghan family.

But his freedom didn't last long. Soldiers arrived at the house, stripped Shaker of his belongings and took him away at gunpoint. For the next two weeks Shaker was sold to various groups of soldiers, who accused him of killing their leader and beat him mercilessly.

The abuse continued, and when Shaker and four other Arab prisoners were driven out of Kabul one night, he thought the end had come and they were to be executed. Instead, the sound of a helicopter and American accents filled him with relief. "Americans!" he thought. "We are saved!"

In fact, his transfer to US forces marked the beginning of a new nightmare. Shaker arrived at Bagram Air Force Base at the end of December 2001 - the start of terrible abuse that has lasted seven years when transferred to Guantanamo Bay. America, world leader in democracy - had no charge and denied him a fair trial.

In Bagram Airforce base the abuse claimed by Aamer was they denied him food, US personnel would dump freezing water on him. This treatment, combined with the bitter Afghan winter, caused Shaker's feet to become frostbitten. He was chained for hours in positions that made movement unbearable, and his swollen, blackened feet were beaten.

He was refused the painkillers he begged for. Shaker began to say whatever the US wanted, whether it was true or not. Satisfied with confessions made by a man desperate to end his torture, the US military transferred Shaker to Guantánamo Bay in February 2002.

Yet Shaker Aamer's spirit has proved indomitable. When the military police beat up a prisoner while he was praying, Shaker initiated the first hunger strike at Guantánamo. More than three hundred prisoners began refusing meals. The Americans negotiated with Shaker, promising changes in the camp conditions.

But the promises were broken. When the hunger strike began again in September 2005, Shaker was placed in solitary confinement as punishment. He has remained alone in a six foot by eight foot windowless cell ever since. At breaking point and willing himself to die, Shaker was force fed liquid food through a tube shoved down his nose.

Lawyers based here in London, with the organisation Reprieve have finally cleared Shaker for release and his nightmare should come to an end. The British government have requested he is returned to the United Kingdom, but negotiations with the US ceased in December 2007 and have not been renewed. Meanwhile Shaker, whose psychological and physical state we can only guess, is still alone in his cell - waiting.

Jameela Oberman

Reprieve: http://www.reprieve.org.uk/

Next weekend, Human Rights organisation, Cage Prisoners, is holding a public meeting on the plight of Shaker in Guantanamo Bay.

SHAKER AAMER:
THE LAST LONDONER
IN GUANTÁNAMO BAY

Saturday 11 July, 3-5pm
Lower Hall, Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, London SW11 5TN

Speakers include:
Martin Linton MP (Battersea)
Moazzam Begg (Cageprisoners)
Gareth Peirce (Solicitor)
Mr. Siddique (father-in-law of Shaker Aamer)

Organised by Cageprisoners and the London Guantánamo Campaign
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 07973 264 197 This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 07809 757 176
www.cageprisoners.com
www.guantanamo.org.uk