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Shaker Aamer issues warning to extremists to 'get the hell out' of Britain

The last British resident held at Guantanamo Bay said 14 years of pain was 'washed away' the moment he was reunited with his wife
Detainee: Shaker Aamer spent 14 years in Guantanamo Bay
Reprieve UK
Hannah Al-Othman
13 December 2015

Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, has said 14 years of pain was "washed away" the moment he was reunited with his wife.

Mr Aamer, 48, returned to the UK in late October after being held without charge at the US military facility in Cuba.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, the father of four opened up about being reunited with his family, and delivered a blunt message for extremists living in the UK to "get the hell out".

Mr Aamer spoke of his disbelief when he was actually flown home, saying he was apprehensive he may have been subjected to a "trick."

He also recalled his first breaths of true freedom after walking off his plane.

Recounting when he met his wife Zinneera later that evening, 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."

Mr Aamer's youngest son Faris, 13, was born on the day he arrived at Guantanamo Bay in 2002, and he said he has struggled with being thrown into fatherhood again, saying he finds having to discipline his children, as he fears they may regard him as a stranger..

Describing his first meeting with the children, he said: "I just wanted to hug them and kiss them. But they were standing stiff. It tore my heart.

"They are shy kids to begin with. But they were looking at me and looking away. It was hard."

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Mr Aamer also spoke of the barriers he has faced when reintegrating into life London.

He recalled having to tell a bank manager that his last address was a military facility, while opening a bank account.

He said: "I thought he was going to say, 'Can you wait a minute I need to speak to my manager.' Actually he just took my hand and said, 'I am honoured to talk to you'."

Mr Aamer also told of the brutal treatment he received at the hands of the Forcible Cell Extraction team, of being hog-tied, and of having about 200 interrogators deal with him in total.

During some of those investigations, family photographs were used against him, he said.

And in a stark message to extremists living in the UK, he said: "How can you give yourself the right to be living here in this country, and living with the people and acting like you are a normal person, and then you just walk in the street and try to kill people?"

"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.

"If you are that angry about this country, you can get the hell out."

In 2007 the allegations against Mr Aamer were dropped. He has insisted he was in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 2001 to make a better life for his family where food and property were cheap.

He is now expected to bring legal proceedings against the British Government over its alleged complicity in his mistreatment.

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