Shaker Aamer is the last British resident held in America's lawless "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He has a British wife and four British children. Seized late in 2001 in Afghanistan, where he had traveled to undertake humanitarian work, Shaker arrived in Guantánamo on February 14, 2002, the day that his youngest son was born.
Eloquent and charismatic, Shaker has fought for the rights of the prisoners from the moment he was first detained, and as such has come to be regarded as a threat by the U.S. authorities. Nevertheless, he was first cleared for release in 2007, by a military review board under the Bush administration, and he was cleared for release a second time in January 2010, by the inter-agency Guantánamo Review Task Force established by President Obama when he took office in January 2009.
Despite requests for his release by the British government (beginning in August 2007), and despite President Obama's promise, in a major speech on national security issues on May 23, to resume releasing prisoners from Guantánamo, overcoming obstacles raised by Congress, Shaker is still held.
This is unforgivable, and as a result this Care 2 petition has been established to provide anyone anywhere in the world with an opportunity to ask the U.S. government to release Shaker Aamer, and to ask the British government to keep pushing to secure his freedom.
For further information, see the following websites:
http://www.closeguantanamo.org/
http://www.reprieve.org.uk/
http://saveshaker.org/
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.com/
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/
