Shaker Aamer: where's the justice?
This is my favourite photo from the set I took on April 24, 2013, as campaigners calling for the release from Guantanamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, held a demonstration outside Parliament following a Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall from 9.30 to 11 am. Shaker, who has a British wife and four British children, is one of 86 prisoners cleared for release by an inter-agency task force established by President Obama in 2009 but still held. These two women, who are teachers, had come from west London, and I thought their hand-painted placards were perfect.
The debate followed a successful e-petition, calling on the British government to "undertake urgent new initiatives to achieve the immediate transfer of Shaker Aamer to the UK from continuing indefinite detention in Guantanamo Bay," which secured over 100,000 signatures, making it eligible for debate.
The debate was introduced by Jane Ellison, the Conservative MP for Battersea, Shaker's home constituency, where his wife and family live, and it was supported by other MPs including Caroline Lucas (Green, Brighton Pavilion), the Labour MPs John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Kerry McCarthy, Jim Cunningham, Stephen Timms, John Woodcock, Russell Brown, Yasmin Qureshi, Gavin Shukur, Andy Slaughter and Anas Sarwar, the Conservative MP Mike Freer, and Mark Durkan of the SDLP and the Independent MP Eric Joyce.
The government -- via Alistair Burt, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs -- responded with the usual claim that "It is the long-standing policy of the Government that we should seek the release and return of those UK nationals and former legal residents who have been held at Guantanamo Bay and, in so doing, assist the US Administration in their efforts to close the detention facility." However, Mr. Burt also noted that "any decision regarding Mr Aamer’s release ultimately remains in the hands of the United States Government."
Campaigners -- myself included -- will continue to work to exert pressure on the British and American governments to secure Shaker Aamer's release.
For Shaker Aamer's most recent accounts of the current prison-wide hunger strike in Guantanamo, which began on February 6, 2013, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2013/04/02/from-guantanamo-shak...
and: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2013/04/16/people-are-dying-her...
For the now-completed e-petition, see: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33133
For an ongoing international petition, see: www.thepetitionsite.com/1/shaker-aamerguantanamo-bay/
Also see the website of the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign: saveshaker.org/
For more on Andy Worthington, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/
For my most interesting photos, see: www.flickriver.com/photos/andyworthington/popular-interes...
Shaker Aamer: where's the justice?
This is my favourite photo from the set I took on April 24, 2013, as campaigners calling for the release from Guantanamo of Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison, held a demonstration outside Parliament following a Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall from 9.30 to 11 am. Shaker, who has a British wife and four British children, is one of 86 prisoners cleared for release by an inter-agency task force established by President Obama in 2009 but still held. These two women, who are teachers, had come from west London, and I thought their hand-painted placards were perfect.
The debate followed a successful e-petition, calling on the British government to "undertake urgent new initiatives to achieve the immediate transfer of Shaker Aamer to the UK from continuing indefinite detention in Guantanamo Bay," which secured over 100,000 signatures, making it eligible for debate.
The debate was introduced by Jane Ellison, the Conservative MP for Battersea, Shaker's home constituency, where his wife and family live, and it was supported by other MPs including Caroline Lucas (Green, Brighton Pavilion), the Labour MPs John McDonnell, Jeremy Corbyn, Kerry McCarthy, Jim Cunningham, Stephen Timms, John Woodcock, Russell Brown, Yasmin Qureshi, Gavin Shukur, Andy Slaughter and Anas Sarwar, the Conservative MP Mike Freer, and Mark Durkan of the SDLP and the Independent MP Eric Joyce.
The government -- via Alistair Burt, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs -- responded with the usual claim that "It is the long-standing policy of the Government that we should seek the release and return of those UK nationals and former legal residents who have been held at Guantanamo Bay and, in so doing, assist the US Administration in their efforts to close the detention facility." However, Mr. Burt also noted that "any decision regarding Mr Aamer’s release ultimately remains in the hands of the United States Government."
Campaigners -- myself included -- will continue to work to exert pressure on the British and American governments to secure Shaker Aamer's release.
For Shaker Aamer's most recent accounts of the current prison-wide hunger strike in Guantanamo, which began on February 6, 2013, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2013/04/02/from-guantanamo-shak...
and: www.andyworthington.co.uk/2013/04/16/people-are-dying-her...
For the now-completed e-petition, see: epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/33133
For an ongoing international petition, see: www.thepetitionsite.com/1/shaker-aamerguantanamo-bay/
Also see the website of the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign: saveshaker.org/
For more on Andy Worthington, see: www.andyworthington.co.uk/
For my most interesting photos, see: www.flickriver.com/photos/andyworthington/popular-interes...