Activists renew call to close Guantanamo

Despite an election pledge and a presidential decree by Barack Obama to close Guantanamo over 100 detainees still languish there, among them British resident Shaker Aamer.

Fears are growing for Mr Aamer's well-being after almost 11 years in detention during which time he has suffered brutal torture and almost daily beatings.

Reprieve legal director Kat Craig said it was an outrage Mr Aamer is still in Guantanamo despite his having been cleared for release under both the Bush and Obama administrations. "The British government must bring Shaker home to his wife and children."

She added that Guantanamo Bay remains "a dark stain on the very idea of justice" as long as it stays open.

"The rounding up of hundreds of people, their horrific torture and indefinite detention far from the rule of law is as shocking today as it was eleven years ago."

To mark tomorrows's anniversary campaigners in London, led by the London Guantanamo Campaign and the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign (SSAC), will take part in a tour of the embassies of states that have facilitated rendition.

London Guantanamo Campaign has called on US President Obama take the opportunity of his re-election to make good on his first-term presidential decree and election pledge.

The group's Aisha Maniar said: "Eleven years of political inertia, excuses and downright lies have resulted in 11 years of arbitrary detention, torture and legal limbo for 166 prisoners."

The SSAC has also written to Prime Minister David Cameron calling on him secure the immediate release and return of Mr Aamer.

The letter states: "The US administration is in breach of all international human rights laws and in particular the convention against torture. We call on the UK government to publicly report the US to the appropriate assembly of UN and to demand that Shaker Aamer is immediately released and returned to his home and family in the UK."

• SSAC supporters will meet outside South Kensington tube station at 2pm to start the tour marking Mr Aamer's rendition. The tours will converge for a candlelight vigil outside the US embassy at 6pm.