By Close Guantanamo

Here at "Close Guantanamo," we have, in recent weeks, been telling the stories of prisoners held indefinitely at Guantanamo, even if they are among the 89 prisoners cleared for release, or do not constitute a threat to the U.S. -- men like Abdul Razak Qadir, a Uighur, Fayiz al-Kandari and Fawzi al-Odah, the last two Kuwaitis held in Guantanamo, Shawali Khan and Abdul Ghani, two Afghans, and Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison.

Last week, in a world exclusive, we presented compelling testimony from inside Guantanamo by Shaker Aamer, as made available to us by one of his lawyers, Ramzi Kassem. Entitled, "I Affirm Our Right to Life": Shaker Aamer, the Last British Resident in Guantánamo, Explains His Peaceful Protest and Hunger Strike, this exclusive article provided an explanation, written last summer by Shaker Aamer, explaining why he was embarking on a peaceful protest and hunger strike, and other reflections, as told to Ramzi Kassem, including his fears for his life. As he explained:

"[H]e doesn't feel safe without the constant presence of attorneys, and the constant threat of embarrassment in the media directed at the prison authorities. Only then, he said, does he believe there will there be "a meaningful check" on the abuse of prisoners.

"He [also] said that he fears for his life, and fears that if, in the course of a 'Forced Cell Extraction' by the notorious Immediate Reaction Force (the armored guards responsible for maintaining discipline and punishing infringements of the rules), the guards kill him, they will tell the world it was a suicide. Who knows, he has asked, if the men that the authorities claimed committed suicide truly had -- the three men who died in 2006, and the others in 2007, 2009 and 2011? What, he wonders, if, instead of killing him, they paralyze him during one of their brutal beatings?"

This is a riveting -- and alarming -- insight into life in Guantanamo over three years after President Obama promised to close the prison, and failed to do so, and with your help it will create pressure to secure the release of Shaker Aamer back to the UK, where his family awaits him.

Last month we publicized petitions calling for Shaker Aamer's release -- an e-petition to the British government, which can only be signed by British citizens and residents, and another, on the influential Care 2 Petition Site, which is open to anyone anywhere in the world, and will be delivered to the Obama administration and the British government, when it secures 10,000 signatures.

The British e-petiition needs 100,000 signatures by May 14, to qualify for a debate in Parliament, so if you can do anything to promote these petitions, please do so. No living prisoner has been freed from Guantanamo for 15 months, and it is time that this disgraceful state of affairs came to an end, and cleared prisoners -- like Shaker Aamer -- are released.

As ever, we thank you for your support.