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The last British resident in Guantanamo Bay has been released after 13 years.

Dad-of-four Shaker Aamer's release today was welcomed by David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn as he was flown to Britain on a taxpayer-funded private jet.

The move brought a dramatic end to an ordeal that has angered campaigners around the globe.

The 46-year-old was one of the first detainees to be sent to the notorious prison camp in Cuba after he was picked up by bounty hunters in Afghanistan.

The Saudi citizen, a legal British resident, insisted he was innocent and had been working for a charity when he was caught in 2001.

But he was held without charge ever since his arrival at the US base in February 2002, where his lawyers claim he was tortured, beaten, deprived of sleep and held in solitary confinement.

(Image: PA)

He said in 2005: "I am dying here every day, mentally and physically… We have been ignored, locked up in the middle of the ocean."

And he said he was not sure if he would know how to respond to his name after being referred to as 239 - his prison number - for more than a decade .

The US confirmed last month it would release Mr Aamer but he remained incarcerated for another month thanks to diplomatic and technical wranglings.

Today Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed he had been released.

He said: "The Americans announced some weeks ago that they were going to release Shaker Aamer from Guantanamo and I can confirm that he is on his way back to the UK now and he will arrive in Britain later today."

Mr Aamer's US lawyer Cori Crider, who is also Strategic Director at Reprieve, said she was 'delighted'.

She added: "It is long, long past time. Shaker now needs to see a doctor, and then get to spend time alone with his family as soon as possible."

MPs including Tories Andrew Mitchell and David Davis, Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Green MP Caroline Lucas joined hunger strikers campaigning for Mr Aamer's release two weeks ago.

His family, MPs and actors Mark Rylance and Maxine Peake also took part in a 24-hour fast to show their support.

Saudi-born dad Mr Aamer, who moved to Britain with his family in 1996, said he cried when he read about the protests.

Mr McDonnell, who chairs an All Party Parliamentary Group on Mr Aamer's case, said today he was 'breathing a heavy sigh of relief'.

He added: "Shaker was simply a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, a charity worker building wells in Afghanistan who was kidnapped, ransomed and falsely imprisoned.

"He has been cleared twice for release, never charged and no serious evidence has been presented against him.

"I am grateful to the Prime Minister for his intervention in the past year, and the cross-party support we have received for his release.

(Image: Howard Jones/WENN.com)

"I hope that he now gets the full support he needs so that he’ll be able to settle back into society, and get on with the rest of his life."

David Cameron "welcomes" Mr Aamer's release, said the PM's spokeswoman.

"It's an issue that he has personally raised with the president, and he also wanted to support the president's efforts to close Guantanamo Bay," she added.

Asked if the PM was confident Mr Aamer posed no security risk, she said: "Im not going to go into details of individual cases."

But she added: "People should be reassured that anything necessary to ensure public safety - those arrangements have been put in place."

British taxpayers have footed the bill for flying him home in a private jet, and the spokeswoman said that once he stepped off the plane he was "free to be reunited with his family".

It is understood Mr Aamer was part of a group of British Guantanamo prisoners who sued the Government and received payouts.

(Image: Carl Court)

Mr Cameron's spokeswoman said: "There was a settlement in relation to detainees in November 2010. That was subject to a legally binding confidentiality agreement so I can't go into further details about the terms of that settlement or who was party to it."

Jeremy Corbyn raised Mr Aamer's plight in his first party leader's speech to the Labour conference.

He said today: "The pressure mounted by the British Parliament contributed to Shaker’s freedom.

"But we must recognise the crucial role played by the steadfastness of his family and the commitment of all those who campaigned for his release, whether they lobbied their MPs or demonstrated on the streets against this huge injustice.

"Now that Shaker has been released, the scandal of the Guantanamo detention camp itself must be brought to an end."

Labour’s Shadow Human Rights Minister Andy Slaughter, who went on the delegation two weeks ago, said: "This will be a huge relief to his friends, family and all those who have campaigned for this for many years.

"He was cleared for release in 2007 under President Bush and once again by Obama in 2009. He has been held in appalling conditions, has been on several hunger strikes and has never seen the youngest of his four children."

(Image: Carl Court)

Andy Worthington, co-director of the We Stand With Shaker campaign, said: "We're delighted to hear that his long and unacceptable ordeal has come to an end.

"We hope he won't be detained by the British authorities on his return and gets the psychological and medical care that he needs to be able to resume his life with his family in London.

More than 40,000 people signed an Amnesty International petition calling on David Cameron and Barack Obama to bring the inmate back to the UK.

Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen said: "After so many twists and turns in this appalling case, we won't really believe that Shaker Aamer is actually being returned to the UK until his plane touches down on British soil.

"We should remember what a terrible travesty of justice this case has been, and that having been held in intolerable circumstances for nearly 14 years Mr Aamer will need to time to readjust to his freedom."

Timeline: Twists and turns in Brit Shaker Aamer's Guantanamo ordeal

(Image: EPA)

1968: Mr Aamer was born in Saudi Arabia and grew up in Medina.

1985: He moved to America and studied in Georgia and Maryland before working as a translator for the US Army in the Gulf War.

1996: Mr Aamer was granted leave to remain in the UK after he moved to Battersea, south-west London, where he met his British wife Zin Siddique. The couple married the following year and have four children together.

2001: Mr Aamer was seized in Afghanistan, where he claims he was working for a charity, by bounty hunters who handed him over to US forces.

2002: He was transferred to Guantanamo on February 14, accused of aiding al Qaida.

2005: Mr Aamer lost half his body weight in a hunger strike after he became an unofficial spokesman for detainees in the prison.

2006: His lawyers filed a report alleging Mr Aamer had been held in solitary confinement for 360 days and was tortured by beatings, exposure to temperature extremes, and sleep deprivation.

(Image: Reuters)

2007: Mr Aamer was cleared for release to Saudi Arabia after former foreign secretary David Miliband requested he be freed along with four other British residents in the prison.

2009: He was deemed safe for release a second time by a US tribunal. Again he was not freed after America refused to let him return to the UK.

2010: Mr Aamer's 12-year-old daughter Johina wrote a letter to then-prime minister Gordon Brown asking for his freedom while hundreds of people took to the streets in London protesting against his imprisonment.

2012: A series of protests took place across England to mark the tenth anniversary of his detention in February.

January 16, 2015: US president Barack Obama said he would "prioritise" his case after Prime Minister David Cameron raised Mr Aamer's plight in high-profile talks.

September 25, 2015: The US government formally notified the UK authorities that they would be returning Mr Aamer, although no date was set for his release.

October 30, 2015: Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed Mr Aamer's release from Guantanamo Bay.