Alistair Burt MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH
Date: July 17th, 2013
Dear Alistair,
I am writing to you to follow up on the Westminster Hall debate on Shaker Aamer, the last British resident being held in Guantanamo Bay. As you may remember, at that debate on the 24th of April this year I asked you a number of questions about why Shaker was still being held in detention without trial, despite the absence of any charges against him and release clearance. As you know, Shaker has been on hunger strike since the 15th of February and I have grave concerns about his deteriorating health, as well as the serious allegations of his continuing mistreatment in detention, so this a matter of urgency.
At the debate on 24th April you offered to answer my questions by writing to me and putting a copy of the letter in the Library for other Members to refer to. As I have not yet received your answer, I am writing to remind you of my questions. Shaker’s state of health is precarious, and I would be grateful for a rapid response.
Have UK intelligence agencies passed false information to the US regarding Shaker, contributing to his continued detention, or not? Was the information that was passed on marked “not for executive action”? This would mean that it should not have been used as a basis for actions such as holding someone in prison, particularly in illegal indefinite detention such as at Guantanamo Bay.
Have steps been taken to ensure that any information that was previously provided to the US would not be used against Shaker, on pain of sanctions? If not, what steps is the UK taking to ensure that its intelligence agencies do not pass on false information, which results in the mistreatment of UK residents by foreign intelligence agencies, as well as being of absolutely no use to the intelligence agency receiving it?
What response has been given to each of the Government’s requests for Shaker’s return? Has the Secretary of State received those letters that Shaker sent to him directly, as he is concerned that they may not have cleared Guantanamo censorship? Have the Government raised with the US authorities any possible breach of international law by the Americans?
Most critically, are you able to prove assurances that the UK has not been complicit in the abuses that Shaker has suffered? And what steps are you taking to ensure that the UK is putting pressure on the US to end any mistreatment of Shaker?
Finally, can you guarantee that there is no truth at all in the perception that the reason Shaker has been cleared for release in Saudi Arabia only is because it would prevent him from speaking out against his abuse, in which UK authorities might have been complicit?
I hope to hear from you urgently, as my questions were originally asked almost three months ago.
Yours sincerely,
Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion
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