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SHADOW chancellor John McDonnell joined celebrities, MPs and journalists yesterday in a defiant pledge to fast for the immediate release of Guantanamo Bay detainee Shaker Aamer.
The Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington will abstain from eating for 24 hours on October 22 during a fluid-only fast.
Mr Aamer, the last British detainee held at the US prison in Cuba, is currently on hunger strike protesting against the constant abuse and torture inflicted on him by guards. He fears that he will die before being released and reunited with his family.
The US administration claimed that it had to give Congress 30 days’ notice for his release after it was “confirmed” on September 25.
People are fasting in order to “encourage Shaker to give up his hunger strike” by showing him that “others have chosen to take up his protest,” according to the We Stand With Shaker campaign.
The father-of-four — held without charge or trial for at least 13 years — has yet to even meet one of his sons who was born on the same day he was captured in 2001.
His family said that they were cautious over the release claim, as their hopes had been “dashed before.”
They will also be fasting on Thursday along with Labour MP Andy Slaughter, Conservative MPa Tania Mathias and David Davisand co-directors of the We Stand With Shaker campaign Joanne MacInnes and Andy Worthington.
His lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, who had been given “fasting guidelines” by Mr Aamer, will also be on hunger strike from Thursday.
Mr Aamer had advised him to flush out the system with fibre in preparation and gradually reducing water intake so that the stomach shrinks.
He had added: “You may have the urge to read food magazines — if you can believe it, they have such magazines here in Guantanamo and they tend to be all over the place during a hunger strike!”
Other notable figures to embark on the 24-hour hunger strike are actor Maxine Peake, comedian Frankie Boyle, ex-Pink Floyd musician Roger Waters, journalist Yvonne Ridley, actor Mark Rylance and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas.
Campaigners from human rights group Amnesty and Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, will also be pledging their support by not eating.
As of yesterday afternoon, a total of 88 fasts were pledged.
