Shaker Aamer: Killing civilians is not allowed in Islam 

Last UK resident of Guantanamo speaks against extremism in his first interview since being released from prison 

Forty-eight-year-old Shaker Aamer is shown after his release from Guantanamo Bay (Twitter) 

Sunday 13 December 2015

The last British resident held at Guantanamo Bay has told extremists to “get the hell out” of the United Kingdom, in his first interview since being released from the US detention facility in Cuba.

Shaker Aamer, 48, who returned to London in October after more than 14 years of detention without charge, told the Mail on Sunday killing civilians is not allowed in Islam.

“Even if there is a war you cannot kill just anybody, you cannot kill kids, you cannot kill chaplains, you cannot just go in the street and get a knife and start stabbing people," he told the Mail on Sunday.

“If you are that angry about this country (the UK), you can get the hell out.”

Shortly after the Americans invaded Afghanistan in 2001, Aamer was captured by bounty hunters and sold to US forces seeking anyone accused of being linked to Al Qaeda.

Aamer was interrogated and allegedly tortured by his American jailers, who accused him of being a recruiter and financier for Al Qaeda. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2002.

He has always denied any links to terrorism, and said he was in Afghanistan working for an Islamic charity. He was never charged or put on trial by the US and was cleared for release in 2007 – but it was not until October this year that he was finally returned home to the UK, where he was reunited with his family and youngest son, who he had never met.

Aamer told the Mail on Sunday details of his alleged torture, recreating stress positions he was held in, but said that when he was reunited with his wife, British citizen Zinneera, it “washed away” years of pain.

"At last that moment I'd dreamt of came and she came through the door," he said. "That instant washed away the pain of 14 years. It washed away the tiredness, the agony, the stress.

"It was like it no longer existed. I hugged her, she hugged me, and we just wept."

He told the newspaper of how he is learning to be a father, and spoke at length about his personal struggles to come to terms with his new freedom, but said he retains a focus on politics and fears of a growing conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims.

"It helps their [extremists'] cause," he said. "If you keep looking at people like they are terrorists before they do anything, then you will push them towards violence."

Aamer says when he was tortured by the Americans, a British intelligence officer was present at the time.

On Sunday, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement: "The UK government stands firmly against torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment.

"We do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone it for any purpose. Neither does the UK make use of any so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. We have consistently made clear our absolute opposition to such behaviour and our determination to combat it wherever and whenever it occurs."

Aamer is seeking an apology from the US government for his treatment while in prison. He is also calling for the British government to openly investigate allegations of their complicity in his alleged torture.

The Saudi national is also believed likely to receive substantial compensation from UK authorities in line with what has been paid to previously released British Guantanamo Bay prisoners.