CLOSED: Guantánamo Bay: Concern for Detainees

UPDATE: 26 MARCH 2009
The decision of the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, to refer Binyam Mohamed’s case to the Metropolitan Police is welcome. However it should only be the first step in investigating UK complicity in torture, rendition, illegal detention and other human rights abuses.  Find out more

UPDATE: 18 MARCH 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s statement on the treatment of detainees is welcome news, but it goes nowhere near far enough. There must be a full, impartial inquiry into the very serious allegations from Binyam Mohamed and others about UK collusion in torture and rendition. Find out more

UPDATE: 13 MARCH 2009
We are urging the UK government to initiate a thorough and independent investigation into allegations that torture of Binyam was covered up.

Right now we need your help in calling on the UK Government to press for the immediate release of two other men with ties to the UK, if they are not to be charged and tried in federal courts.

Saudi Arabian national Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, lived and worked in the UK for years and has family here. Ahmed Belbacha an Algerian national, who used to live in the UK, may be at risk of torture and other human rights abuses if he is returned to Algeria.

UPDATE: 23 FEBRUARY 2009
We are delighted that UK resident Binyam Mohamed has finally been released from Guantánamo Bay and has been brought home. Thank you to everyone who has campaigned tirelessly for Binyam for more than six years.

However, this is not the end of the story. We remain deeply concerned for Binyam’s health, which seriously deteriorated during his detention, in particular during his recent hunger strike.

Binyam has released a statement to the press. Read it in full on the BBC

Background Information

Binyam Mohamed
Find out more about Binyam Mohamed’s case and Amnesty’s long campaign to get him released. Read his profile

Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer
Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer is a national of Saudi Arabia and UK resident. He has lived in the UK since 1996. He was captured by Northern Alliance fighters and handed over to the US army in Afghanistan in August 2001. He says that he was in Afghanistan to do voluntary charity work. Shaker and his British wife have four children, the youngest of whom Shaker has never seen. In August 2007 the UK asked the USA for his release from Guantánamo and return to the UK. In December 2007 the UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband told Parliament that the US had refused this request, and the request for Binyam Mohamed’s release and return, because of “significant additional security concerns” in their cases, and that the UK was “no longer in active discussions” with the US concerning Shaker Aamer.

Shaker Aamer is currently still held at Guantánamo Bay. His family wish to be reunited with him in the UK.

Ahmed Belbacha
Ahmed Belbacha fled his native Algeria after, he says, receiving death threats, and sought asylum in the UK. According to the UK government his application was initially refused. While his appeal against this refusal was being considered, he travelled to Pakistan, for the purpose, he says, of studying there. While in Pakistan he was arrested, turned over to US forces, and eventually transferred to Guantánamo Bay. The UK government has stated that they have not requested the release and return to the UK of Ahmed Belbacha because he was not legally resident in the UK prior to his detention. His lawyers disagree.

Amnesty International continues to urge the UK government to make interventions on behalf of Ahmed Belbacha – whatever his legal status in the UK prior to detention – in order to facilitate his safe release from Guantánamo. If returned to Algeria, Ahmed Belbacha would be at risk of incommunicado detention, unfair trial and ill-treatment at the hands of the Algerian authorities.

UPDATE: 26 MARCH 2009
The decision of the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, to refer Binyam Mohamed’s case to the Metropolitan Police is welcome. However it should only be the first step in investigating UK complicity in torture, rendition, illegal detention and other human rights abuses.  Find out more

UPDATE: 18 MARCH 2009
Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s statement on the treatment of detainees is welcome news, but it goes nowhere near far enough. There must be a full, impartial inquiry into the very serious allegations from Binyam Mohamed and others about UK collusion in torture and rendition. Find out more

UPDATE: 13 MARCH 2009
We are urging the UK government to initiate a thorough and independent investigation into allegations that torture of Binyam was covered up.

Right now we need your help in calling on the UK Government to press for the immediate release of two other men with ties to the UK, if they are not to be charged and tried in federal courts.

Saudi Arabian national Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, lived and worked in the UK for years and has family here. Ahmed Belbacha an Algerian national, who used to live in the UK, may be at risk of torture and other human rights abuses if he is returned to Algeria.

UPDATE: 23 FEBRUARY 2009
We are delighted that UK resident Binyam Mohamed has finally been released from Guantánamo Bay and has been brought home. Thank you to everyone who has campaigned tirelessly for Binyam for more than six years.

However, this is not the end of the story. We remain deeply concerned for Binyam’s health, which seriously deteriorated during his detention, in particular during his recent hunger strike.

Binyam has released a statement to the press. Read it in full on the BBC

Follow up