MOSCOW, December 23 (Sputnik) — Britain's former Foreign Secretary David Miliband had been secretly planning to extradite a Guantanamo prisoner, a legal resident of Great Britain, to Saudi Arabia in 2007, while assuring his family in Britain he would return home, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
According to the documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Miliband was involved in negotiations to transfer Shaker Aamer, who had been held in the controversial US detention facility in Cuba since 2002 without charge on suspicion of being linked to al-Qaeda, to his birthplace, Saudi Arabia, despite the fears he would be tortured there.
The documents, dating back to August 2007 reveal that when negotiations between the United Kingdom and the United States about releasing Aamer and sending him back to his wife and four children in Britain failed, the UK Foreign Office started promoting his extradition to Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, the ex-foreign secretary publicly assured the Aamer family that lobbying for his return to Britain would continue.
The newspaper claimed, citing Aamer's lawyers, that the reason for Miliband's misleading the family of the Saudi-born Briton was to "silence" the Guantanamo detainee, who claimed to have been tortured and witnessed the torture of another detainee by a British agent.
Aamer, who was twice cleared for release, still remains in the notorious detention camp, as US authorities insist on his extradition to Saudi Arabia. He is the last British detainee at Guantanamo.
Aamer's lawyers filed a motion on his behalf seeking his release on grounds of post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental and physical ailments back in April.
According to the Daily Mail, "the fact his transfer to Saudi was even considered raises still more alarming questions about the conduct of Labour, and Mr. Miliband in particular."
The detention camp, located in Cuba, has been the subject of strong criticism since its establishment in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. Health workers, inspectors and former detainees have described the cruel and inhumane conditions at the camp, including the use of torture.
Despite US President Barack Obama's promises to close down the detention facility, US Congress passed a defense bill earlier in December, prohibiting the Defense Department from transferring prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
