Human rights activists welcomed MPs back to work on Monday 16 April with a colourful protest outside Parliament. Ten years on, Shaker Aamer is still held without charge or trial at Guantánamo Bay: why is he still there and why has the government still not secured his release and return to his family in the UK?

To coincide with this protest, MP John McDonnell tabled a new EDM: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/2955

Shaker Aamer: 10 Years on, Still no Answers

Report by Aisha Maniar

Human rights activists welcomed MPs back to parliament after their Easter break with a colourful demonstration in Parliament Square calling for the return of the last London resident in Guantánamo Bay, Shaker Aamer.

Organised by the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, around 25 people joined the protest between 1 and 3pm on Monday 16 April, shortly before parliament reconvened. With some protesters dressed in orange jumpsuits with black hoods, they held up placards and chanted, calling for the release and return of Mr Aamer to the UK. They were briefly joined by MPs John McDonnell (Lab: Hayes & Harlington) and Jane Ellison (Con: Battersea), MP of the constituency Mr Aamer's family resides in. They were also joined by journalist and author of The Guantánamo Files, Andy Worthington.

Shaker Aamer, a Saudi national, with a British family in south London, including a ten-year old son he has never met, has been held in Guantánamo Bay, without charge or trial, since February 2002. Cleared for release by the Pentagon in 2007, his return to the UK was sought by the British government that same year.

Why he continues to languish at Guantánamo Bay is unclear; the British and American governments both blame each other, without giving a plausible reason for his continuing imprisonment. He claims a British intelligence agent was present on one occasion when he was tortured in Afghanistan; this claim is currently subject to a police investigation. He is also alleged to have witnessed the torture and murder of three other prisoners at the hands of US soldiers in 2006, according to a Time magazine report. Commenting on the continuing political impasse, Andy Worthington stated that there is no drive by the UK or the US to close Guantánamo Bay, and thus there is no impetus to release Shaker Aamer. This needs to come from direct public pressure.

To mark the tenth anniversary of his continuing detention without charge or trial, his family and solicitor launched an e-petition to the Foreign Office. 100,000 signatures need to be collected on this e-petition by 14th May to trigger a debate in parliament on this issue, "in order for the Prime Minister to explain the inexplicable", according to Andy Worthington: why Shaker Aamer remains in Guantánamo Bay when apparently no one wants him to be there. Please add your name to the petition and ask your friends and family to as well: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/29410

John McDonnell MP has also tabled the following EDM calling for the release of Shaker Aamer and to coincide with this protest: http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2010-12/2955

"That this House welcomes the demonstration in Parliament Square held on 16 April 2012 by the Save Shaker Aamer campaign to highlight the fact that British resident Shaker Aamer has been imprisoned without trial or charge for over 10 yearsin Guantanamo; and calls for a new initiative by the Government to secure his release and his return to his British family in the UK, given the worrying concern that his health is now seriously deteriorating to the point that his lawyers havestated that he is gradually dying in Guantanamo"

Please write to your MP and ask them to sign it.

Many thanks to Peace Strike for facilitating this action

© Report and photos, Aisha Maniar/ London Guantánamo Campaign