UK resident says British officers witnessed him being tortured in Afghanistan
A British resident who spent nearly 14 years at the US-run detention facility in Guantanamo Bay says British security officers witnessed him being tortured by American soldiers at Bagram air base in Afghanistan.
Shaker Aamer, who was the last British resident to be held in Guantanamo Bay, has told a newspaper that he was held in a cage at Bagram before his transfer to Guantanamo, and that his American interrogators had beaten him and deprived him of sleep, Reuters reported.
"They were accusing me of fighting with Bin Laden in the battle of Tora Bora; of being in charge of weapons stores; of being a terrorist recruiter, though I'd only been in Afghanistan for a few weeks," he said.
"This American guy grabs me by the head, and he slams it backwards against the wall. In my mind I think I must try to save my head so I tried to bring it forwards, but as soon as I do he grabs it again and bashes it."
Aamer, a Saudi national married to a UK woman, said a British officer, who he believed arrived at the base on a plane with then Prime Minister Tony Blair, was present in the room during the interrogation and did not intervene.
A spokeswoman for the British government said on Sunday it did not participate in or condone torture and was determined to combat it "wherever and whenever it occurs".
Aamer’s lawyers were quoted by the media as saying in October that he is planning to sue the UK government for alleged complicity in his torture.
According to some speculations, he may get a compensation payout of £1 million, if he wins the case.
Aamer, a father of four, was detained while working as a charity worker in Afghanistan back in 2001.
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