Shaker Aamer
Intelligence and security committee chair says Aamer's torture claims must be taken seriously Getty

The chair of the intelligence and security committee hopes Shaker Aamer and other former Guantanamo Bay detainees residing in Britain will take part in the group's investigation into the UK's involvement in torture. Tory MP Dominic Grieve said Aamer's claims of a UK intelligence officer failing to intervene when he was tortured were serious and must be taken as such.

Shaker Aamer: What you need to know

Spent 14 years in Guantanamo Bay

Otherwise known as Prisoner 239

Saudi citizen with British residence

Always denied allegations of involvement in terrorism

Twice cleared of any wrongdoing

Has accused US forces of torturing him during his detention

When asked whether he expected Aamer, 48, to give evidence to the intelligence and security committee, Grieve told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I very much hope that he will feel able to, not just him, there are also detainees living in the UK."

The comments come after Aamer said he would not attempt to sue the UK government or prosecute over his alleged torture in the US military prison in Cuba.

Aamer has also claimed that former Labour prime minister Tony Blair and ex-foreign secretary Jack Straw knew about his "enhanced interrogation" by US forces and has called for them to be given "amnesty to hear truth of torture". But a spokesperson for Blair stressed that the former Labour leader has always been opposed to the use of torture.

"He believes the fight against radical Islamism is a fight about values and acting contrary to those values, as in the use of torture, is therefore not just wrong but counter-productive," the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Straw told The Guardian: "The British government was never complicit nor condoned torture or other ill-treatment of detainees wherever they were held."

More about Shaker Aamer