Last UK Guantanamo prisoner released after nearly 14 years

The US has released a London-based Saudi national, the last British resident to be incarcerated in Guantanamo Bay, after nearly 14 years in detention at the infamous military prison in Cuba without being tried for any terror-related offence.

46-year-old Shaker Aamer was held at Guantanamo since 2002 after the US accused him of acting as a recruiter, financier and fighter for Al-Qaeda, as well as being a close associate of Osama Bin Laden, but he was never charged or put on trial.

Aamer, who has four children, today reached the UK. He was aboard a Gulfstream IV jet which landed at Biggin Hill airport in Kent. No media crew was allowed access to the plane. He requested a private meeting with his familyand lawyers.

Other UK Guantanamo detainees have received settlements from the government under terms announced in November 2010.

Although the details have been kept confidential the sums are widely accepted to have amounted to 1 million pounds for each detainee, including UK residents as well as those with British citizenship, meaning Aamer is likely to be eligible for a similar pay-out.

Aamer was detained in Afghanistan in 2001 after US authorities alleged he had led a unit of Taliban fighters and had met Osama.

But Aamer, who was twice cleared for release from the camp in 2007 and 2009, denied the allegations and maintained that he was in Afghanistan with his family doing charity work. He was born in Saudi Arabia, and lived in the US before settling in Britain, where he married a British woman and, in 1996, became a resident.