A CAMPAIGNING Hagley doctor will be among activists attending a London rally to highlight the plight of the last Brit detained in Guantanamo Bay.

Dr David Nicholl has tried everything he can think of to raise awareness of the case of Shaker Aamer who has been imprisoned in the Cuban camp for 12 years without charge or trial.

He even completed a five-day hunger strike in September to show solidarity for Mr Aamer who, along with other Guantanamo inmates, is also currently hunger striking.

In his latest attempt to raise the profile of Mr Aamer, Dr Nicholl will join campaigners including John McDonnell MP and investigative journalist Andy Worthington (author of The Guantánamo Files) at the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign march outside Northcote Baptist Church in London this Saturday (November 23).

The event, which will also see campaigners rallying at Battersea Arts Centre, marks the 12th anniversary of when Saudi-born British national Mr Aamer was captured in Afghanistan and calls for the US to release him back to the UK, for UK authorities to secure Mr Aamer’s return to his family in London and for a full debate to take place in the House of Commons.

Dr Nicholl said: “The desperately sad thing is how Shaker has now been held for 12 years without charge, still no further forward to being returned to his family in London.

“It is now over 180 days since President Obama’s last promise to start releasing some of the prisoners from Guantanamo - in that time only two men have been released to Algeria.

“How hard can it be to release Shaker when both my MP and the Foreign Office have recently stated they want him returned to the UK?

“After my recent hungerstrike, the Foreign Office, in a handwritten note, congratulated me on the publicity I had attracted to his case, which rather misses the point. I want him released to his family, nothing less.”

Joy Hurcombe, chairman of the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, Steve Bell of Stop The War Coalition and Daniel Blaney, vice-chairman of the Campaign for Niclear Disarmament will also be attending the rally which starts at 2.15pm.

Dr Nicholl added: “It is very clear to me the only way Shaker will be released alive from Guantanamo is through public pressure. He will only be released when the authorities are sufficiently embarrassed to release him.”