by: the Common Constitutionalist
After 13 years in captivity, the last Briton has been freed from Guantánamo Bay. Shaker Aamer has been held at Gitmo since 2002. He was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks, where he claims he was a simply there doing charity work.
He was accused of aiding Al Qaeda, was handed over to U.S. Forces in February of 2002 and transferred to Gitmo. Now he has been freed and arrived back on British soil yesterday.
For his incarceration, the British government is expected to compensate him to the tune of about 1,000,000 pounds, approximately $1.5 million – provided of course by the British taxpayer. There are no reports, at least that I can find, explaining why the 46-year-old Aamer is being compensated by the British government. It appears they had nothing to do with his capture or incarceration. Reports only conclude that this is the approximate amount that others before him have received.
Interestingly, Mr. Aamer is not a British citizen. He’s Saudi Arabian, who happened to reside in London, with his wife and four children, prior to his “charity” work in Afghanistan. The “charity” work he was doing over there was never disclosed, although he was originally accused of having links to Al Qaeda and in his files he is described as having been a “close associate of Osama bin Laden” who fought in the battle of Tora Bora. He was suspected of leading a unit of fighters in the country, for which his family was said to have been regularly paid by Osama bin Laden. But I’m sure he was just an innocent charity worker caught up in all the confusion – the fog of war and all. read more