Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is to be released, both the US Department of Defense and the UK government have confirmed.
A US official said on Friday, “The secretary of defense has approved the transfer of Guantanamo detainee Aamer, following a thorough review of his case and taking into consideration the robust security assurances that will be provided by the British government, one of our strongest allies who has supported our efforts to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay.”
The defense department has to notify Congress of its intent to transfer Aamer, which means that he has to wait for 30 days from the notification before he can be transferred, Al Jazeera reported.
A UK government spokesman confirmed that the country had been notified by the US government that it decided to return Aamer to the UK.
“As the US has said, we have one of the most robust and effective systems in the world to deal with suspected terrorists and those suspected of engaging in terrorist-related activity and we will continue to do all we can to protect people in Britain and around the world from the threat of terrorism,” the spokesman said.
