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Conference with British former Guantanamo detainees

June 25th, 2007

Almost six years in Guantanamo, withour charge or trial and under a state of torture.
A wife and four children eagerly await his return.
Join us for a conference to mark 2000 days of the existence of Guantanamo Bay and the ongoing imprisonment of Shaker and others

SHAKER AAMER - DETAINEE 239

SATURDAY 30th JUNE 2007
6pm-8:30pm

Memon Centre,
3 Weir Road,
Balham,
London, SW12 0LT.

Speakers:

  • Johaina Aamer (daughter of Shaker )
  • Marium Begg (daughter of Moazzam)
  • Moazzam Begg (former Guantanamo detainee, Cageprisoners)
  • Gareth Peirce (Birnberg Peirce, lawyer for Guantanamo detainees)
  • Bianca Jagger (Human Rights Campaigner)
  • Zachary Katznelson (Lawyer for Shaker Aamer, Reprieve)
  • Helen Bamber (Co-Founder & Director of the Helen Bamber Foundation)
  • Yvonne Ridley (Political Journalist and Campaigner)
  • Imam Hafiz Saeed (Father-in-law of Shaker)
  • Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat MP for British resident, Jamil El Banna)

Plenary session with British Former Guantanamo Detainees

In the summer of 2001 Shaker Aamer, a South London resident, moved with his British family to Afghanistan to work on a school project for impoverished children. After the fateful US-led invasion that same year, Shaker, whilst managing to evacuate his own family, was captured by bounty-hunters and sold - like hundreds of men fleeing the war - to American forces .

During his unending incarceration in Kandahar, ‘the Dark Prison’ and Guantanamo- without charge or trial, Shaker has been beaten, shackled, suffocated, force-fed, subjected to sleep deprivation, denied meaningful familial communication or visits and denied the right to habeas corpus. He has spent more than a total of three years in solitary confinement in conditions worse than the USA’s infamous ‘death rows’. In one of the last heavily censored letters home Shaker had asked for the right to die.

“I am dying here every day, mentally and physically. This is happening to all of us. We have been ignored, locked up in the middle of the ocean for years. Rather than humiliate myself, having to beg for water, I would rather hurry up the process that is going to happen anyway.

“I would like to die quietly, by myself. I was once 250 lbs (17 stone 12 lbs). I dropped to 130 lbs (9 stone 4 lbs) in the first hunger strike. I want to make it easy on everyone. I want no feeding, no forced tubes, no ‘help’, no ‘intensive assisted feeding’. This is my legal right.” Shaker Aamer, 2nd November 2005

Join the prestigious panel, including family and friends of Shaker, to mark over 2000 days since the inception of the world’s most notorious prison camp and call for the return of Shaker to his loved ones, the youngest of whom he has never even seen.

Free admission but confirmation of attendance will guarantee a seat.

Refreshments will be provided.