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For Immediate Release
August, 27 2014, 11:45am EDT
Contact:
Alice Gillham: +44 (0) 207 553 8160, alice.gillham@reprieve.org.uk
Shaker Aamer 'Beaten' in Latest Guantanamo Crackdown
British resident Shaker Aamer has reportedly been beaten at Guantanamo Bay, in evidence of a new crackdown on prisoners protesting their detention without charge.
LONDON
British resident Shaker Aamer has reportedly been beaten at Guantanamo Bay, in evidence of a new crackdown on prisoners protesting their detention without charge.
In new letters received by legal charity Reprieve, detainees reveal what one calls a new "standard procedure" of abuses at the prison. Emad Hassan, a Yemeni detained without charge since 2002, wrote that "an FCE [Forcible Cell Extraction] team has been brought in to beat the detainees [...] On Sunday, Shaker ISN 239 was beaten when the medical people wanted to draw blood." Mr Hassan adds that guards had beaten another detainee for nearly 2 hours.
'Forcible Cell Extraction' or 'FCEing' is the process by which a detainee is forced out of his cell by a group of armed guards, often before being taken to the force-feeding chair. Mr Aamer has previously described being beaten by the FCE team up to eight times a day.
Mr Aamer, who has been cleared for release by both the Bush and Obama administrations, has been held for long periods of solitary confinement since 2005 and is in extremely poor health. An independent medical examination conducted earlier this year diagnosed him with severe post-traumatic stress, and recommended urgent psychiatric treatment and "reintegration into his family."
In June, former Foreign Secretary William Hague told Reprieve that UK officials were confident Mr Aamer had access to a "detainee welfare package" and that his health "remain[ed] stable." In a letter sent this week, Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith urged Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond to raise urgent questions with the US Government about these latest reports of mistreatment.
Cori Crider, Strategic Director at Reprieve and a lawyer for Mr Aamer, said: "Just weeks ago, the UK Government dismissed our concerns about Shaker Aamer's wellbeing, relying on US assurances about a so-called Guantanamo 'welfare package.' Now we hear that Shaker, already a seriously ill man, has been beaten. Phillip Hammond should seek answers from the US without delay about why, instead of simply releasing Shaker, it prefers to detain and abuse him."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
LATEST NEWS
Ted Cruz Admits Trump Accounts Are Designed to Privatize Social Security Over Time
One advocate said the Texas Republican laid bare the "two-pronged strategy to push Social Security privatization: Creating the Trump accounts with one hand and gutting the Social Security Administration with the other."
May 08, 2026
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said during a public conference this week that the so-called Trump Accounts established under the GOP's 2025 budget law represent a viable path toward Social Security privatization—something the Texas lawmaker described as a "dirty little secret."
During a panel discussion at the Milken Institute Global Conference in California, Cruz said that "conservatives in America, for 50 years... have been trying to do Social Security personal accounts." Cruz, who lamented the failure of Bush-era efforts to privatize Social Security, described such personal accounts as vehicles into which the payroll taxes that finance current Social Security benefits could be diverted.
In the not-too-distant future, Cruz envisioned, "we're going to be able to go to parents and say, 'Hey, you know that Trump Account your kid has? ... Wouldn't you like to be able to keep a portion of your tax payments that you're paying already and, instead of sending it to Uncle Sam, wouldn't you like to have a Trump Account just like your kid does?'''
"My prediction is, within five years, that is going to have a really compelling constituency," the Texas Republican added.
🚨🚨🚨
Ted Cruz says the quiet part out loud…
Trump Accounts are a scheme to privatize Social Security.
HANDS OFF OUR EARNED BENEFITS! pic.twitter.com/Oo3owRF7bM
— Social Security Works ❌👑 (@SSWorks) May 8, 2026
Linda Benesch, vice president of communications at the progressive advocacy group Social Security Works, told Common Dreams that Cruz's comments laid bare the "two-pronged strategy to push Social Security privatization: Creating the Trump Accounts with one hand and gutting the Social Security Administration with the other."
Benesch pointed to the remarks of an anonymous Social Security Administration (SSA) worker, who warned in comments to The New Yorker earlier this week that privatization advocates plan to point to the decimated agency and declare, "Look how Social Security sucks."
"They’ve been trying to privatize it for decades," said the SSA worker. "Now this will give them the excuse.”
Benesch said Friday that Cruz is "giving away the other half" of the Republican scheme by promoting the eventual expansion of Trump Accounts, investment vehicles under which children born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028 are eligible for $1,000 in "seed money" from the federal government. Parents of eligible children can contribute up to $5,000 per year to the accounts.
Cruz's comments are not the first time a Republican official has openly characterized Trump Accounts as a potential avenue for Social Security privatization.
"In a way, it is a backdoor for privatizing Social Security," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said last summer. "Social Security is a defined benefit plan paid out that—to the extent that if all of a sudden these accounts grow, and you have in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for your retirement—then that's a game changer, too."
It’s been twenty years since Bush tried to do Social Security private accounts and they still haven’t realized workers’ Social Security taxes pay for *current retiree* benefits and not future benefits so you can’t do this without cutting current retiree benefits. https://t.co/eq9OnuhXVr pic.twitter.com/vguJN6pfuO
— Brendan Duke (@Brendan_Duke) May 8, 2026
Axios reported Friday that "the idea that Trump Accounts could replace or augment Social Security is something that has been talked about behind closed doors with lawmakers."
"But no one has wanted to touch that third rail, at least publicly," the outlet added, citing a person familiar with the private conversations.
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, noted in a Friday statement that polling has found little support for privatizing Social Security, with a 2022 survey finding that just 15% of American voters back the idea.
"Turning over Americans’ hard-earned benefits to Wall Street would expose future retirees to unnecessary risk while lining the pockets of the financial elites who donate to Republicans," said Richtman. "Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and their Republican allies should realize that the people will not stand for privatization of their hard-earned benefits, and we in the advocacy community will continue to ensure that it never happens."
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‘Yeah, So What?’ Elites Shrug Off Working-Class Pain Caused by Trump Tariffs, Iran War
"Does anyone really care if the Strait of Hormuz is open?" asked one banking executive.
May 08, 2026
Even as President Donald Trump's illegal war with Iran and tariffs on foreign goods are hammering working-class Americans, a new report shows that members of the US elite have never had it better.
As The Financial Times reported on Thursday, attendees at the annual Milken Institute conference in Beverly Hills this week were living in "blissful ignorance" of the economic pain hitting workers in the US and around the world.
“People are glossing over the war with Iran,” an anonymous private credit firm executive told The Financial Times. “They've become desensitized to it. For some reason, people are saying, ‘Yeah, so what?'"
The Financial Times also quoted one person described as a "high-powered banker" who asked, "Does anyone really care if the Strait of Hormuz is open?"
Ted Koenig, chief executive of Monroe Capital, told The Financial Times that, while people at the conference were vaguely aware of the suffering of middle-class and working-class Americans, "at the end of the day, everyone’s focused on their own investment portfolios, especially here."
While the mood at the Milken conference may have been buoyant thanks to the record-setting stock market, fresh data released Friday showed Main Street America is feeling the exact opposite.
The University of Michigan's latest Surveys of Consumers found that consumer sentiment has hit another all-time low, driven in large part by anxiety over price increases caused by the Iran war.
"Taken together, consumers continue to feel buffeted by cost pressures, led by soaring prices at the pump," explained Joanne Hsu, director of the Surveys of Consumers. "Middle East developments are unlikely to meaningfully boost sentiment until supply disruptions have been fully resolved and energy prices fall."
Tahra Hoops, director of economic analysis at Chamber of Progress, noted 30% of respondents in the latest Surveys of Consumers said that Trump's tariffs were driving up their expenses.
"It would do well for Dems to continue to shout that gas prices are high and tariffs are raising your costs!" Hoops wrote.
While consumer spending has for months held up in the wake of low confidence, McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski said this week that signs of real strain are starting to appear.
As CNBC reported Thursday, Kempczinski described the current economic environment as "challenging," and warned that "it’s certainly not improving, and it may be getting a little bit worse."
The fast food CEO pointed to high gas prices as a particular strain on working-class consumers, who are the most regular customers at McDonald's.
“Clearly, when you have elevated gas prices, which is the core issue that I think we’re all seeing about in the press right now, gas prices, inflation on that, that is going to disproportionately impact low-income consumers,” Kempczinski said. “And so we expect the pressures there are going to continue.”
Kempczinski wasn't the only CEO to sound alarms about US consumer spending this week.
According to a Thursday report from Market Watch, Whirlpool CEO Marc Bitzer said during a quarterly earnings call that the appliance industry had seen a 7.4% drop in demand in the first quarter of 2026.
"This level of industry decline is similar to what we have observed during the global financial crisis," said Bitzer, "and even higher than during other recessionary periods."
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Platner Calls to 'Take Back American Power' With Rate Freeze, National Infrastructure Fund in Energy Plan
"It is long past time to hearken back to the legacy of the New Deal, to unlock American ingenuity and work ethic to rise to our energy challenges."
May 08, 2026
In his energy policy unveiled Friday, Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner in Maine emphasized that political choices over the last several decades undid the robust New Deal-era framework that helped keep household bills down and financed electricity across his state and the country—and that lawmakers can and must shift their priorities in order to help working families afford energy once again.
"What was done by political choice can be undone by political choice," said Platner in the plan. "If we approach our energy challenges with the resources currently reserved for the Pentagon and for billionaire tax breaks, we can meet our energy needs."
The oyster farmer and combat veteran, a political newcomer who is the presumptive Democratic nominee and is running to unseat five-term Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), unveiled a plan under which the US can "Take Back American Power" by replacing "regressive gas and diesel taxes" with his billionaire wealth tax proposal, introduced last month; take aim at Big Oil windfall profits; and prioritize clean energy development instead of "overpriced, dead-end Pentagon pet projects."
The plan is divided into four sections, with the first focusing on slashing energy prices for households across the country and in Maine—where the average family paid $900 more this past winter compared to the previous year to heat and light their home and power their car.
While the federal gas tax is meant to fund the Highway Trust Fund for infrastructure projects, Platner noted that $275 billion general fund have been needed to supplement the trust fund since 2008. Instead of funding projects with taxes that "hit working-class Mainers that hardest," said Platner, "public goods should be financed by progressive, general revenues" like his proposed 5% tax on wealth over $1 billion.
He expressed support for the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, introduced by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), with a national fund to lower or freeze electricity rates supported by a per-barrel tax equal to 50% of the price difference between current oil prices and those from last year.
"We can cut Wall Street speculators out of the equation, build at scale with union jobs, and lower costs for everyone."
A rate freeze would also be funded by "repurposed federal fossil fuel subsidies and federal energy leases... so that states can support utilities making long-overdue upgrades that create a stronger, better-utilized, and cleaner grid that lowers power bills."
The second section of the plan focuses on funding clean energy projects and replacing the model of "financing energy investments with expensive private equity and high-yield debt" with a National Energy Infrastructure Fund. The fund would issue debt backed by the federal government, working with state agencies to provide "cheap capital directly to utilities, rural electric co-operatives, public energy authorities, and other developers of low-risk clean energy projects."
Combined with permitting reform for clean energy projects, the National Energy Infrastructure Fund would allow for an efficient build-out of transmission lines and offshore wind projects while passing tens of billions of dollars in savings on to ratepayers.
"We can cut Wall Street speculators out of the equation, build at scale with union jobs, and lower costs for everyone," said Platner.
The Senate candidate also proposed strategic fuel reserves for fisheries and farms, modeled on a reserve that hold approximately 1 billion barrels of oil for households across the Northeast in case of a fuel disruption.
Releases from a marine fuel reserve would "be triggered by verified price spikes during fishing seasons," while the stock for farmers, who bear "the brunt of our energy crisis," would be used to insulate the nation's food supply "from price shocks, particularly those caused by arbitrary wars."
The policy proposal was released as President Donald Trump issued his latest violent threat against Iran despite a ceasefire that was reached a month ago in the war the US and Israel started in late February. The average gas price is now above $4.50 per gallon, while 70% of US farmers told the American Farm Bureau Federation last month that the price of fertilizer has gotten so high due to Iran's closing of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the attacks, that they will not be able to afford all they need for the 2026 planting season.
Platner has taken aim at Collins for her votes against war powers resolutions that would give Congress a check on Trump's authority to attack Iran.
"Mainers can no longer afford Susan Collins, her party, or the crony capitalism that has handed over our essential public infrastructure to oil companies, private equity, and foreign-owned utilities," said Platner. "The solutions are straightforward. They simply require the political will: to end Big Oil’s stranglehold on our energy policy, to slash prices for consumers, and to build the energy of the future."
The Democrat's energy plan also calls for a National Whole Home Repair Program, modeled on a Pennsylvania initiative and scaled to the federal level. The program would partner "with public housing authorities, county-level programs, and local building and construction trades unions to cover the full range of work that would bring old housing into the present."
"Weatherization, electrification, and heat pumps can lower bills by thousands of dollars a year," reads the plan. "The technology exists. The skilled trades exist. What does not exist, for most Mainers, is the upfront capital."
It concludes that "it is long past time to hearken back to the legacy of the New Deal, to unlock American ingenuity and work ethic to rise to our energy challenges."
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