Saudi-born Aamer is alleged to have been a key British-based recruiter and financier for the al-Qaeda murderous Moslem network and purportedly worked for the late Osama bin Laden
... who doesn't live anywhere anymore...
in Afghanistan, according to U.S. military documents.
Aamer's lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said that his client, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001, would probably not be released until the end of next month.
The move comes as President Barack Obama
I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money...
struggles to honor a six-year-old pledge to close the facility before leaving the White House in 2017.
"We have been notified by the U.S. government that it has decided to release Shaker Aamer to the UK," a British government front man said.
Aamer was captured in Tora Bora in northern Afghanistan in December 2001 before being transferred to Guantanamo in Cuba in February 2002, where he has been held ever since.
Stafford Smith called word of his release "great news, albeit about 13 years too late."
He added: "They only just gave notice to Congress, so that means that without robust intervention, Shaker and his family have to wait until October 25th at the earliest for their reunion."
Reprieve, a London-based human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
charity founded by Stafford Smith, said Aamer was first cleared for release in 2007.
A U.S. defense official speaking on condition of anonymity
... for fear of being murdered...
said the decision to release him had been taken "taking into consideration the robust security assurances" provided by Britannia about how the transfer would take place.
Neither side gave any details of what would happen to Aamer after he returns to Britannia.
- Cause celebre -
Obama signed an order to close the top-security facility in 2009 but has struggled to do so in the face of opposition in Congress and other countries reluctant to take in one-time terror suspects.
Some 114 detainees remain in the prison opened to hold terror suspects following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Amid pressure for Aamer's release from MPs, newspapers and celebrities including Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Prime Minister
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
raised the case with Obama when he visited the White House in January.
Aamer was born in Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
in December 1968 and lived in the United States before settling in Britannia, where he married and became a resident in 1996. He and his wife have four children who live in London.
Reprive says he was volunteering for a charity in Afghanistan when he was captured in 2001.
Some supporters suggest the reason he has been held so long at Guantanamo is because he may have witnessed the torture of others.
A medical examination ordered by his lawyers in December 2013 revealed Aamer was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression, as well as migraine headaches, asthma and kidney pain.
Moazzam Begg, who was held for nearly three years at Guantanamo, said Aamer would struggle to rebuild his life.
"He's going to have a massive fight on his hands," Begg told BBC television.
"No amount of therapy and so forth will be able to replace those years. I think this will be a harder struggle for Shaker to deal with than the actual imprisonment."