The last British detainee in the US prisoners’ camp at Guantanamo Bay has exposed “deteriorating” conditions of inmates and said there was “systematic torture” by US personnel.
Shaker Aamer said he was afraid that he and fellow inmates will die due to the treatment form guards. Several detainees are on hunger strike, due to the indefinite detention and intrusive searches, with some currently being force-fed by guards.
Dozens of inmates have been cleared for release, with Shaker Aamer having been cleared for release twice, by both the Bush and the Obama administration.
The British government has lobbied called for his release, saying on Sunday: "we want him released and returned to the UK as a matter of urgency".
"I might die this time," he is quoted by his lawyer Stafford Smith as saying, adding: "I cannot give you numbers and names, but people are dying here."
"I can't read. I am dizzy and I fall down all the time. I do not call (the guards), as it is humiliating. When they call Code Yellow (for when a prisoner collapses), they step on your fingers, your hands, they scratch you, even then you are living in fear when they say they are treating you.
"Yesterday they tied me on the board and they threw me in a cell because the medical people were busy. So they only took me to another cell. You are lucky if you get a medical space."
"In the night people are dying from the cold. In the day they are dying from the heat. People cry from the heat and humidity – I could not put the prayer schedule on the wall because it was so damp. It is systematic torture," Aamer told his lawyer.
"No matter how much I show you I am tough, really I am dying inside," he told Stafford Smith.
There have been clashes between guards and prisoners recently, when guards attempted to move the detainees from communal areas.
