“The youngest…he doesn’t even know who his Daddy is because he has never seen him or spoken to him until this day” – Mrs Z. Aamer
Shaker Aamer
Age: 42
Nationality: Saudi (Legal British resident)
Arrested: Afghanistan, 2001
Currently held: Guantanamo Bay
Status: Cleared for release
One of the most famous captivities in the Guantanamo Bay is that of Shakeer Ammer. Shakeer has been held in Gutanamo Bay since 2002 and has been cleared for a release but the United States, which mean that it is unlikely that he is going to be released. Shakeer is being held in the Bay, even though to this day he has not been charged the states with a crime and has never received time in jail, but the brutality of this is that even with out all of this he has been abused repeatedly and subjected to extended isolation.
Shakeer, was a hand – on dad, he changed nappies and as time passed his family grew, his first child Johina was born in 1997 his son Michael was born in 1999, and Saif a year later, and Faris in 2002 after the imprisonment of his father, Shakeer has never even seen his youngest child, this in my eye’s is the greatest injustice of all.
Shakeer spent most of his working days devoted to other; he usually worked as an Arabic translator for a solicitor who advised him on his immigration case. Shakeer ended up becoming a counsel which consisted of them helping refugees why listening and advising then, but the bitter end to all this is, that his dedication and love for his job is what landed him in Guantanamo Bay.
In June 2001, Shakeer visited Afghanistan on a voluntary trip to work for an Islamic charity, he stayed in Kabul which at the time was peaceful, but after the events of September 11th, the bombing in Kabul began, and fearing that his life was in danger and he was at a great risk of becoming a prisoner he went into hiding with an Afghan family but this ‘freedom’ did not last for long, as soldiers arrived stripped Shakeer of everything, and for two solid weeks Shakeer was sold to various groups of soldiers who accused him of killing their leader and beat him savagely, the abuse continued when Shakeer alongside four Arab prisoners were driven out of Kabul and headed for America.
Here he thought he was saved but this was just the start of his nightmare, the was forced to stay awake for nine days and was deprived of food which resulted him losing 60 pounds in weight, the surrounding in where he lived in where at freezing temperatures, alongside with many more indescribable ways of treating a human being.
After Reprieve took up his case, Shaker was cleared for release. The British government have requested he was to be returned to the United Kingdom, but negotiations with the US ceased in December 2007 and have not been renewed since Meanwhile Shaker waits alone in his cell, officially cleared of wrongdoing, but still paying the cruellest of costs for his kindness to others.
This article has been written to open your eyes up about the great injustice there is in this world, and how a cruel place such as Guantanamo Bay should be closed down.
Rahila A.
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