UK's last remaining Guantanamo Bay detainee could be released within weeks, say US officials

Britain’s last remaining Guantanamo Bay detainee could be released within weeks, US government sources have indicated.

Shaker Aamer has spent 13 years in captivity without charge after being captured in Afghanistan and accused of being Osama bin Laden’s translator. He denied the allegations but is said to have made confessions under torture. US authorities agreed in 2007 and again in 2009 that he could go free but the final release order was never signed.

They are understood to have been determined to release him to Saudi Arabia, his home country, rather than the UK where he had rights of residence, a British wife and four children. Mr Aamer had moved to Afghanistan with his family shortly before his capture.

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd has campaigned for his release and the UK government has also been lobbying to get him freed but it is only now, with President Obama running out of time to keep his promise to close the military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, that a breakthrough appears to have been made.

A US government official indicated to AFP news agency that Mr Aamer and up to 10 other inmates are expected to be released in the summer after a 30-day notice period to Congress and final approval by the Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter.

It remains unclear, however, which country Mr Aamer will be sent to despite lobbying from the UK government for him to be returned to Britain. A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday that the UK government was still awaiting confirmation of Mr Aamer’s impending release.

He added: “The UK government has consistently raised Mr Aamer’s case with the US authorities. We welcome President Obama’s commitment to prioritise Mr Aamer’s case following his meeting with the Prime Minister. We will continue to work with the US to secure his release to the UK as a matter of urgency.”

Reprieve, the human rights organisation which represents Mr Aamer, said it had yet to hear official confirmation of Mr Aamer’s release.

A spokeswoman said it has been “a mystery” why Mr Aamer was not released in 2007 when this was approved by the Bush administration or again in 2009 when approved by President Obama.

“There’s not a lot of transparency,” she said.

Cliff Sloan, who until recently was the State Department’s envoy dealing with prisoner transfers, told Sky News: “We are talking about people who have been at Guantanamo for 12 or 13 years, people who have been approved for transfer for more than five years and they should not be having to spend a day longer than necessary in Guantanamo.”

Mr Aamer has given repeated testimony to Reprieve that he was tortured and abused while held first at Bagram and then at Guantanamo, and it has been suggested US authorities are reluctant to release him because it will draw public attention to the abuse.