Guantanamo detainee Shaker Aamer to be released to Britain

Shaker Aamer, the last British resident to be held at Guantanamo Bay prison, is to be released by US authorities to Britain, the government in London said on Friday.

"We have been notified by the US government that it has decided to release Shaker Aamer to the UK," a government spokesman said.

Aamer was captured in Tora Bora in northern Afghanistan in December 2001, transferred to Guantanamo Bay in February 2002 and has been held there ever since, without being charged or on trial.

Aamer's wife is a British national who lives in London with their four children.

US military documents accused him of being a key Britain-based recruiter and financier for the Al-Qaeda militant network and purportedly worked for Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan.

The Washington Post reported that "Aamer, 46, has been the focus of high-level discussions between the United States and Britain as British officials have increased pressure on the Obama administration to set aside lingering concerns about the risks associated with releasing Aamer and set him free."

Some 114 detainees still remain in the prison opened to hold terror suspects following the September 11, 2001 attacks.