Detainee ‘let down’ by ministers say former Guantanamo inmates

The Government has failed to honour promises to free the last British detainee in Guantanamo, former inmates of the camp said today.

Supporters say Shaker Aamer is still languishing behind bars more than two years after ministers assured them everything was being done to bring him home.

The 45-year-old worked in London as an interpreter, having arrived in the UK in 1996 where he was granted indefinite leave to stay. Detained more than a decade ago, he denies he fought with al-Qa’ida and insists he was doing charitable work in Afghanistan.

A former Guantanamo detainee, Bisher al-Rawi, said: “If the British Government does want Shaker back, they could bring him back. Things needn’t be lingering on.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said that William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, and Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, had repeatedly raised the case with their US counterparts: “Mr Aamer’s case remains a high priority … and we continue to make clear to the US that we want him released and returned … as a matter of urgency.”