16.2.15
The last week has been hugely busy for campaigners working to try to secure the closure of Guantánamo; and, specifically, the release of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison. February 14 was the 13th anniversary of Shaker’s arrival at Guantánamo, even though he was first told nearly eight years ago that the US no longer wanted to hold him, and, in 2009, was approved for release a second time by the high-level, inter-agency Guantánamo Review Task Force that President Obama established shortly after first taking office in January 2009.
His continued imprisonment is an absolute disgrace — for both the British and American governments — and no more excuses are acceptable, although they continue to be furnished by both sides. Last month, Shaker’s case was raised by David Cameron when he met President Obama in the US, but that only led to the president promising to “prioritize” his case, which has led nowhere to date. In fact, the outcome of this meeting was pure evasion: if Shaker’s case was genuinely prioritized, he would be home in London with his family a month from now — after the required 30-day notice to Congress — whereas the outgoing defense secretary Chuck Hagel, who must make the certifications to Congress that it is safe to release prisoners, recently explained that he hadn’t even been given Shaker’s file.
On the eve of the 13th anniversary of Shaker’s arrival at Guantánamo, the We Stand With Shaker campaign, which I established with Joanne MacInnes in November, planned to hand in a giant Valentine’s Day card for Shaker to the Ambassador, Matthew W. Barzun, with the following message: “We urge you to ask President Obama to secure the immediate release from Guantánamo of British resident Shaker Aamer. Please tell the president we want Shaker returned to his loved ones in London now.” Supporters were also encouraged to send smaller versions of the card directly to the Ambassador.
As I explained in an article on Thursday, which listed the 60+ MPs and celebrities who had signed the card:
The organizers had originally been told that they would be able to hand in the giant card to the Embassy, but permission was refused on Wednesday. MPs from the newly established Shaker Aamer Parliamentary Group, which has cross-party support and is led by John McDonnell MP, had been intending to hand in the card, and celebrities involved in the We Stand With Shaker campaign had also been intending to turn up to show their support.
Snubbed, the MPs decided not to turn up, but We Stand With Shaker decided to make a point of turning up with the giant card, notifying the media and securing a visit from music legend Roger Waters, a high-profile supporter of the campaign, who undertook a number of interviews in support of Shaker; in particular, this interview with Sky News, which ran a major feature on Shaker on Friday.
Please check out my photo set on Flickr, and watch out for a second set soon, from the well-attended protest outside Downing Street on February 14, at which I delivered a powerful speech directed at David Cameron, and his failure to demand Shaker’s immediate release, as he should for any legal British resident imprisoned without charge or trial for 13 years and subjected to torture and other forms of abuse.
A link to the photos is also below:
Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer, film-maker and singer-songwriter. He is the co-founder of the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, the director of “We Stand With Shaker,” calling for the immediate release from Guantánamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison (published by Pluto Press, distributed by Macmillan in the US, and available from Amazon — click on the following for the US and the UK) and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here — or here for the US).
To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to Andy’s RSS feed — and he can also be found on Facebook (and here), Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Also see the six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, and “The Complete Guantánamo Files,” an ongoing, 70-part, million-word series drawing on files released by WikiLeaks in April 2011. Also see the definitive Guantánamo habeas list, the full military commissions list, and the chronological list of all Andy’s articles.
Please also consider joining the “Close Guantánamo” campaign, and, if you appreciate Andy’s work, feel free to make a donation.
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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One Response
Andy Worthington says...
If you missed it, here’s Roger’s interview with Sky News: http://news.sky.com/video/1427117/pink-floyd-man-urges-inmate-release
My interview with Sky News Tonight: https://twitter.com/SkyNewsTonight/status/566314525880635392
And Sky’s whole coverage of Shaker’s case on Thursday, including an interview with two of his sons: http://news.sky.com/story/1426661/british-sons-plead-for-guantanamo-dads-release
...on February 17th, 2015 at 1:34 am