Above Photo: Campaigners supporting Mr Aamer have raised concerns he may not survive until his planned release date Oli Scarff/Getty Images
Shaker Aamer has been held in the notorious detention centre for more than 13 years without charge
Conservative MP David Davis is one of numerous politicians and celebrities taking part in a 24-hour hunger strike in support of Shaker Aamer, the last British prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay.
Mr Davis was set to begin his fast on Sunday after being persuaded to join the initiative, Fast for Shaker, upon learning that Mr Aamer is himself on a hunger strike, protesting his alleged continued mistreatment at the US-run detention centre in Cuba.
“Now that we are probably only two weeks away from his release I was very worried that he would harm himself just shy of coming home,” Mr Davis told Middle East Eye.
“The single most important thing in my mind is that we get Shaker back to his family in the UK and out of this hideous detention.”
Campaigners supporting Mr Aamer have raised concerns he may not survive until the 25 October, the date of his planned release back to the UK.
Shaker Aamer has been held in the notorious detention centre for more than 13 years without charge after being imprisoned in Afghanistan on suspicion of working with al-Qaeda.
In a report released by Reprieve earlier this year, he described horrific torture at the hands of US interrogators who allegedly told him they would rape his five-year-old daughter.
Mr Aamer denies involvement in terrorism and has also claimed to have witnessed the torture of other prisoners held at the Bagram detention centre in Afghanistan and Guantanamo.
His claims have been backed up by Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve’s Director and Mr Aamer’s lawyer, who said: “I have just returned from a visit and the brutal nature of the Forcible Cell Extraction – to which Shaker is subjected probably more than any other prisoner – is only getting worse.”
Earlier this year Mr Davis, MP for Haltemprice and Howden and former chair of the Conservative Party, went to Washington as part of a delegation of British MPs lobbying for Mr Aamer’s release.
He told Middle East Eye Mr Aamer’s continued imprisonment, despite continued protesting from the UK, has shown the unbalanced relationship between the UK and the US.
“The comparative rewards out of the so-called special relationship are more to America than they are to us. [My visit] reinforced all my views about this asymmetry,” he said.
“I don’t believe [Mr Aamer] is a threat and neither, I think, do the British authorities.
“But in America this is a more sensitive issue and no senator wants to be in the position of having advocated for his release only to find him turn up in a conflict zone.”
Fasting in support of Mr Aamer began on Thursday and, according to Fast for Shaker’s website, 260 have been pledged, carrying on into November.
In addition to Mr Davis, actress Maxine Peak, actor David Morrissey, comedian Sara Pascoe and actor and director Mark Rylance will also be fasting.
About The Pledge
Join Shaker Aamer’s lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, celebrities, MPs and his own family on a hunger strike in solidarity with Shaker, the last British resident in Guantánamo
On 25th September 2015, the US told the UK that Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held in the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, will be released and returned to his family in the UK after being held for nearly 14 years without charge or trial.
By US law, 30 days’ notice must be given to Congress before any prisoner can be freed from Guantánamo, and in the meantime Shaker has embarked on a hunger strike protesting constant and ongoing abuse and his fears that, in his weakened state, he won’t live to see his family again.
To show solidarity with Shaker, his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, celebrities, MPs, Shaker’s family, campaigners and supportive members of the public are pledging to undertake a hunger strike of their own, starting on 15th October, for a minimum of 24 hours.
Please join us, and take the pledge to Fast For Shaker.
We are hoping to encourage Shaker to give up his hunger strike, in the knowledge that others have chosen to take up his protest at his ongoing ill-treatment.
Shaker could be released by 24th October, at the end of Congress’s 30-day notification period, although there is no guarantee that he will be released immediately.
We pledge to continue our hunger strike until he is released.
So please choose a date for your hunger strike, and take a photo of yourself, with theposter available for download here, which shows that you Fast With Shaker — or with your own message.
Please send your photo to us by email and we will upload it to our supporters page. Please do so on the day of your fast. Check out all the wonderful messages of support on the Calendar page. Click on each date for the comments.
You’re invited to our press launch
Please also join us for a publicity photo at the press launch of Fast For Shaker on Thursday 15th October at 1pm in Old Palace Yard, by the George V statue, opposite the Houses of Parliament. Wear something orange!
For further information, please contact:
Joanne MacInnes on 07867 553580 or by email.
Andy Worthington on 020 8691 9316 or by email.
In the US, please contact:
Jeremy Varon of Witness Against Torture on 732-979-3119 or by email.