An Amnesty International group has ‘adopted’ the UK’s last remaining Guantanamo Bay prisoner.

The Amnesty International Waltham Forest Group will campaign on behalf of Shaker Aamer, who has been held without charge since 2001, and has called for his release or charges to be brought.

His lawyer says he is being held even though he has been cleared for release.

Group chairwoman Inga Wolf said: “He doesn’t know what he’s been imprisoned for, they’ve held him there for 10 years and they’ve never really explained it to him.

“He’s been tortured, forced to make untrue statements to save himself from further torture and has been on hunger strike since May.”

The group plan to write to the American government and try to contact Mr Aamer himself, who is a Saudi Arabian national but has permission to live in the UK indefinitely as his wife is British.

They have four children and live in south London.

Mr Aamer’s was initially arrest in Kabul, Afghanistan, 12 years ago.

He was later transferred to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where he has been detained since 2002.

Last month he was broadcast speaking from his cell for the first time.

“Tell the world the truth, please, we are tired,” he said on US news network CBS’s 60 Minutes programme.

“Either you leave us to die in peace or either tell the world the truth. Open up the place. Let the world come and visit. Let the world hear what’s happening.”

The UK Foreign Office said his case is a high priority.

The Amnesty International Waltham Forest Group meets on the first Tuesday of each month in the Rose and Crown on Hoe Street, Walthamstow.