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Who are the British residents from London? |
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Shaker Aamer
A Saudi national who came to the UK in 1996. He is married to a British national and has four British children, the oldest of whom is 8 years old. At the time of his seizure, he was in the process of applying for British nationality. His wife gave birth to his youngest son after his imprisonment and Shaker has never seen him. Working as a volunteer for a Saudi charitable organisation when the US invaded Afghanistan, Shaker was seized as he tried to cross to Pakistan to safety. He was abused in American prisons in Kabul, Bagram and Kandahar before being transferred to Guantánamo. The regime of torture and humiliation has continued at Guantánamo and Shaker currently suffers from many health problems. If returned to Saudi Arabia, it is more than likely that Shaker will be jailed there. Given that he has a wife and children in the UK who are British citizens, there is a strong case for him to be returned here. The British government has yet to make any representations on his behalf.
Jamil El-Banna
A Jordanian national, Jamil was granted refugee status along with his wife in 1997. He has five children, all of whom are British citizens. He was arrested at Banjul Airport in Gambia in November 2002 along with Bisher Al-Rawi. Six months later his wife gave birth to a daughter he has never met. Jamil and Bisher were good friends and were nowhere near the combat zone in Afghanistan when they were seized. Events leading up to their seizure started to unfold even before they left the UK for Gambia where they were to meet Bisher’s older brother Wahab, a British citizen, to set up a peanut processing factory. The men were first detained at Gatwick Airport for carrying a dangerous weapon in their luggage – a battery charger sold on the high street! They were then seized upon arrival at Banjul Airport. Wahab Al-Rawi and another man, also a British national, were questioned and later released. Jamil and Bisher were questioned and then rendered to Afghanistan for a month. During this time, their families had no idea where they were. They were then sent to Guantánamo in February 2003. Jamil was beaten severely in Afghanistan. Jamil has lost a large amount of weight while being detained in Guantánamo; he is also diabetic and has suffered health problems due to inadequate care for his condition.
Bisher El-Rawi (Kingston, Surrey)
An Iraqi national, whose family fled Saddam Hussein’s regime after his father was arrested and tortured, Bisher has long enjoyed legal status in the UK. His family has lived in the UK for over 20 years. They are all UK citizens apart from Bisher. The story of his arrest and rendition to Guantánamo is the same as Jamil’s. Following a public hearing held by an All Party Parliamentary Group, new evidence has emerged concerning British government involvement in the arrest, rendition and eventual detention of Bisher and Jamil in Guantánamo Bay. The British government ignored repeated requests to help these two men for three years on the basis that they are not British citizens. The government has now finally interceded on Bisher’s behalf and has written to the US government to release him from Guantánamo.
Ahmed Errachidi
A Moroccan national and father of two, he lived in London for 18 years, most recently in Holloway. Ahmed worked for years as a highly commended chef. He travelled to Pakistan in 2001 to start a business venture to raise funds for a desperately-needed heart operation for his son. He was sold by Pakistani bounty hunters to the US military in Islamabad. He was then transferred to American jails in Afghanistan before being transferred to Guantánamo. There, he was kept in solitary isolation as a punitive measure for over two years.
Binyam Mohamed
An Ethiopian national, he came to the UK in 1994 where he was granted refugee status. He had gone to Afghanistan to learn about Islam and tried desperately to leave the country after the war broke out; however, his travel documents were stolen and he was seized in Pakistan trying to return to the UK in April 2002. A victim of “extraordinary rendition”, he was rendered to Morocco where he was tortured for 18 months. He was then sent to an underground prison in Kabul, Afghanistan for a further five months. From there, he was taken to Bagram Air Force Base before being moved on to Guantánamo in September 2004. In November 2005, he was charged with conspiring to plot terror attacks against the USA; the evidence against him was extracted under torture in Morocco. One of less than a dozen prisoners ever charged in Guantánamo, he had a preliminary hearing on 6-7 April 2006. The recent Supreme Court ruling in the US deeming the military tribunals at Guantánamo illegal under US law and the Geneva Convention will no doubt impact on Binyam’s status and future hearings.
Abdel Nour Sameur
An Algerian refugee granted refugee status in 2000. He lived in Harrow in London. He went to Afghanistan in the summer of 2001 to study the Koran and experience life in a Muslim country. When war broke out, he led women and elderly men to safety in Pakistan through the mountains. He was seized in Pakistan then was caught in the cross-fire when other prisoners tried to escape; Abdennour was shot in the leg by the Pakistanis but denied medical treatment unless he agreed to falsely confess. He was told he would be brought to his embassy, but was instead sold to the Americans with a busload of other Arabs.
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London Campaign