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Guantanamo Brit Thanks Rock Star For Support

A man who has been held without trial in Guantanamo Bay for more than 13 years has thanked rock star Roger Waters for campaigning to free him.

The Pink Floyd musician has spoken out against the failure of the US government to send Shaker Aamer back to Britain , even though he has been cleared for release .

The prisoner, who has British residency status and whose wife and children live in London, has also passed on his thanks to MPs for working on his behalf.

There was a unanimous call for the American authorities to free him when the case was debated in the House of Commons in March.

Waters was among supporters who demonstrated outside the US Embassy in London a month earlier.

The musician spoke live on Sky News to call for Mr Aamer's release.

In a letter to his lawyers which will be read in the Commons on Monday, Mr Aamer said: "My special thanks and gratitude goes to the legend Roger Waters.

"Please, Roger, don't ask for justice - demand it.

"Be sure, Roger, you and everyone else, that I am an innocent man and a good person who never participated in any animal harm let alone human being.

"We are in Gitmo as the black sheep of US government."

Conservative MPs David Davis and Andrew Mitchell, along with Labour's Andy Slaughter and Jeremy Corbyn, lobbied US lawmakers in Washington two weeks ago.

Among the Senators they met was Republican hardliner and former presidential candidate John McCain.

Mr Corbyn will read the full text of the letter during a Commons debate later, and he will reveal that Mr Aamer has read the transcript of the previous debate in March.

In his letter Mr Aamer says: "I was shocked to see how much these MPs really care, not only care but really engage and ask the smart questions.

"I love these good people, not only for asking to release me, but for their effort to close Guantanamo, and how much they are against it."

The delegation to Washington also met Paul Lewis, the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure at the Pentagon, and Charles Trumbull, the Acting Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure at the State Department.

Following the visit, Mr Mitchell said: "I am confident that we made some progress on our visit, but it is the most extraordinary injustice."