The last British resident detained at Guantanamo Bay, who was released late Thursday after more than 13 years in the top-security USA military jail, is planning to seek compensation from the British government.
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The United States had accused Aamer of acting as a recruiter, financier and fighter for al-Qaida, as well as being a close associate of Osama bin Laden, but never charged him.
Aamer is expected to bring legal proceedings against the British government over its alleged complicity in his mistreatment. “They will now, undoubtedly, be progressed”.
Mr Aamer, 46, is believed to be in line to receive a payout after deals were made with previous British detainees – but his legal team insist it is not the priority at the moment.
Aamer paid an emotional tribute to those who fought for his release after he returned to the UK.
Mr Aamer is suffering from a number of medical conditions including post-traumatic stress disorder, one of his lawyers, Ramzi Kassem, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We should remember what a awful travesty of justice this case has been, and that having been held in intolerable circumstances for almost 14 years Mr Aamer will need to time to readjust to his freedom”, Kate Allen, Amnesty global United Kingdom director, said.
However, Mr Aamer says he was doing charity work.
The 48-year-old arrived on a private plane at Biggin Hill airport in south-east London. On 25 September, the Pentagon announced that it would repatriate Aamer to Britain, although there were doubts as to whether this would actually happen: he was previously cleared for release in both 2007 and 2010. But the U.S. authorities refused to let him go home despite a formal request from the then foreign secretary David Miliband.
“Now the culture of that in America is changing – a former Supreme Court justice has said in the past year that detainees held without trial and charge wrongly, just like Shaker Aamer, really ought to be given a few kind of compensation”.
Waite said Aamer needed to be careful about making any public statements in the near future because he may say things he later regrets.
Mr Waite told Today: “He has suffered a grave injustice”. “Whatever the background, to keep someone for 13 years without charge is really beyond the pale”.
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He was transferred in 2002 to Guantanamo Bay, where he said he faced mistreatment, leading him to become an advocate for prisoners’ rights and an organiser of hunger strikes.
