Calling Shaker Aamer" a resident of Guantanamo Bay" is appaling.

The Media have a very strange term to refer to Shaker Aamer long imprisonment often in solitary confinement

The headlines  including the BBC refer to him as

 "last British resident held at Guantanamo Bay"

Resident?  What kind of word  is that to use for someone who was tortured and mentally abused?


 Shaker Aamer, a Saudi national married to a Briton, was suspected by U.S. authorities of being an Islamist militant associated with al Qaeda but was never charged with any crime. He was released in October after 13 years detention at Guantanamo and has returned to Britain.

In his first broadcast interview, to the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, Shaker Aamer detailed abuse he allegedly suffered at the US camp and in detention in Afghanistan.
He has alleged that a British official was present at one of his beatings.
But he said he does not want to see anyone prosecuted over the case.


Speaking earlier to the Mail on Sunday newspaper, Mr Aamer denounced extremists such as the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, saying they should "get the hell out" of the country.

Mr Aamer was seized by bounty hunters in Afghanistan in the wake of the US invasion of Afghanistan.
He was first held in the country before being transferred to the US military base in Cuba.
US intelligence agencies believed he was working with Osama bin Laden - but Mr Aamer said he moved to Afghanistan to help with charity work. He was never charged and accusations against him were dropped in 2007. 

He told the Victoria Derbyshire programme he could not talk about compensation "for many reasons", but added that it was "beside the point". 

"I do not want to prosecute anybody," he said, "I do not want anybody to be asked about what his role [was] in the past. I just want people to tell the truth."

He also said he did not intend to take legal action, saying: "I don't believe the court will bring justice because of what happened in the past."

 

Mr Aamer told the Victoria Derbyshire programme that on one occasion, he believed a British intelligence officer was present when an American interrogator was beating the detainee's head against a wall.

"I felt my head - boom, boom, boom - banging the wall. And all I remember [is] that my head just keep banging the wall, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth,".

Asked if he was certain a British intelligence officer was present, he replied: "I would say 80, 90%.

"I have no doubt he is an Englishman, because of the way he spoke, the way he is very careful, the way he was sitting far away, looking at me."

The British government said it "stands firmly against torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment" - and the US military says it does not tolerate abuse of detainees. 

A spokesman for the US Department of Defence added:

 "Shaker Aamer was lawfully detained at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
"He was transferred to the United Kingdom following a determination by the Secretary of Defense, consistent with statutory requirements, that security arrangements are in place to substantially mitigate Aamer's potential threat to the United States

Would the US describe the Imprisonment of one of its Citizens who was never charged ot taken to Trial and yet  imprisoned for 13 years subject to Torture  as being  "Lawfully Detained" ?  Even if the country abusing their Citizen constitution allowed it.

No one  can deny the US the right to defend its Citizens at home and abroad but they like the rest of the World must abide by "Human Rights" and the law


Yes Human Rights that Wishy Washy cause of Liberal Do-gooders so derided by the right wing press.

I for one would prefer to be a do-gooder than a do-badder.

The best defence of  our Freedoms is not to deny them to others whether Guilty  or Innocent.

But to show that these Freedoms are desirable for all.

Meanwhile the BBC and the rest of the media should not use the term Resident to describe someone who has spent over 13 years in conditions we would not allow in this country.