UK: Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill receives “Royal Assent” to seize passports, assets, and children of Muslim citizens

Even before the UK’s draconian new Counter-Terrorism bill has been passed into law, the British government has started taking Muslim children away from their parents in order to “prevent radicalization.” The Prime Minister also announced an additional £130 million which will be made available over the next two years to strengthen counter-terrorism capabilities.

This new policy has a lot of problems, starting with an extremely vague definition of “extremism,” which has already been used to target people with strong opinions, social justice activists, people returning from non-violent activities overseas, and even those who went to Syria or Iraq to join a resistance movement but then decided against it and came home. None of these people are seriously considered to be planning attacks on British soil. Rather, their advocation of Islamic ideology is being touted as a threat to “British values.”

“We must be firm to the point of ruthlessness in opposing behaviour that undermines our values. Paedophilia, FGM, Islamic radicalisation – to some extent, at some stage, we have tiptoed round them all for fear of offending this or that minority,” wrote London mayor Boris Johnson in the Telegraph, claiming that “Radicalisation is a form of child abuse” and that Muslim children who risk radicalisation by their parents should be taken into foster care.

An essential weakness of the mayor’s argument is that paedophilia and Female Genital Mutilation are both tangible crimes, while “Islamic radicalisation” is a term so vague that it could include anyone merely philosophically opposed to British participation in foreign wars.

Another serious flaw with the soon-to-be law is that non-Muslim extremists are unlikely to be targeted under the new terrorism law, even if they clearly present a danger to society.

British soldier Ryan McGee, a supporter of the far right English Defence League (EDL), only got a two-year sentence after it was discovered that he had made nail bombs filled with 187 pieces of shrapnel to maximize damage. McGee was also found in possession of knives, axes and imitation guns. He had watched videos of victims being beheaded and shot in the head under a Nazi swastika flag. He had an EDL "No Surrender" flag in his room. He was prosecuted and convicted under the Explosive Substances Act (1883). Instead of being prosecuted as a terrorist, the government prosecutor himself argued that McGee was just an immature teenager.

“Yet paradoxically, the police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the government seek to portray Muslim returnees from Syria as the greatest threat this country has ever faced, charging them and seeking convictions for terrorism offences not connected to Britain in any way,” wrote Moazzam Begg, who argued that “the UK's terrorism legislation is not being applied evenly and should be scrapped in favour of a more common sense approach.”

Another serious double standard, is that no arrests have been made of “British mercenaries (non-Muslims of course) who have joined Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga units who fight alongside  banned terrorist organisations like the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) and Iraqi militias who fight next to the Assad regime alongside proscribed terrorist group Hezbollah.”

The most emotionally disturbing part of the government’s assault on its largest religious minority is that day care centers and schools are now being told they have to report any evidence of “Islamic radicalization” to a government social worker, whose decision making power is almost absolute.

“The nurseries should insure proper training of their staff to... challenge extremist ideas which can be used to legitimize terrorism and are shared by terrorist groups,” the government document tagged “Prevent” stated.

There is no due process to determine the veracity or context of any such accusation. The government simply takes the children by force. Domestic violence organizations and other groups that should provide free legal help to mothers in such cases, have been instructed not to provide attorneys to mothers reported to the government as being suspiciously passionate about Islamic causes or religious practices.

“As a parent I may have to prove many things in order to get my child back, my question is why does a social worker and Channel officer have to prove absolutely NOTHING in order to remove her in the first place. I can’t disprove something that hasn’t ever made it to anyones sight!” protested a British mother, whose 7 year old was taken away after her twitter name raised eyebrows. The government questioned her about her plan to attend an Islamic Unity conference, her letters to Tarek Mehanna, and a passing comment she made online more than a year ago, regarding the Lee Rigby incident. She had just mentioned “that soldiers aren’t innocent fighting in a heavily opposed and morally deplorable war.”

In an earlier case last December the Daily Mail reported, “Two toddlers were snatched by the British police from their mother who had returned from war-torn Syria with them, via Turkey.

The UK’s large Muslim population is being screened for Islamic "Jihadi" style influences as “the British government tries to find effective ways to deal with the threat posed by ISIS.”

In fact, ISIS poses no direct threat to Britain. It would be wise to dig deeper into which groups would lobby England’s elected officials to enact such laws, which essentially prohibit Muslim citizens from enjoying equal rights at home and inhibit them from travelling internationally.

British Muslims Receive 12+ Years for Syria Travel

December 11, 2014 by TMO 

Editor’s note: Karin Friedemann is a TMO Columnist. Any opinions expressed here are her own.

A lack of funds has forced the United Nations to stop providing food vouchers for 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on December 1.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Mohammed Ahmed and Yusuf Sarwar, both 22, were arrested at Heathrow Airport in January 2014 as part of a government crackdown on “radicalized jihadists.” These days, this term could mean anyone who went to Syria including for humanitarian reasons. In May, the two pled guilty to one count of engaging in conduct in preparation of terrorism acts contrary to Section 5 of the Terrorism Act. 

Ironically, the Guardian reports that police did not know the men had travelled to Syria, where they spent eight months, until one of their mothers contacted detectives in May last year, shortly after the pair had left, reporting her son missing. She had found a note written by her son saying he had gone to fight and wished to “die as a martyr.” Instead of receiving help in locating her son, police raided her home and arrested her son when he tried to return home.

The mother of Yusuf Sarwar, in a press release distributed by CAGE, insisted that her son had “not committed any offenses, killed anyone or fought against any armed forces. He has simply secured areas, dug graves, fasted and given food to areas which were in need of dire help… I feel prison is not the answer, neither is my son radicalized neither is he a terrorist.”
Farooq Siddiqui, of the Prevent programme, is calling for the UK to stop criminalizing young Muslims who travel to Syria to fight against Bashar al-Assad. Mr Siddiqui asked why the government has threatened to arrest British Muslims who return from Syria while it allows young people to fight for Israel and other countries with impunity. And yet there is no enforcement of prison for those British that join IDF.

“They willingly, enthusiastically and with a great deal of purpose, persistence and determination embarked on a course intended to commit acts of terrorism,” Judge Michael Topolski said. “Both of these defendants are fundamentalists who are interested in and deeply committed to violent extremism.”

In an interview with Sky TV, former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg said the pair had been branded “terrorists” despite having “no intention of harming anyone.” He also believes the two appear “bewildered by their situation” and that they probably went to Syria out of a feeling of moral duty to help. In the end, Begg said that they came back because they were frustrated by all the infighting amongst the rebel groups.

“I spent several months in prison with these two men and I do not consider them to be a threat to the British public in any way, just in the same way the police that arrested them said they posed no threat whatsoever,” Begg stated in the interview. He also questioned Ahmed and Sarwar’s sentence and accused the judge of maintaining a double standard when handling cases involving Muslims and terrorism. “How can it be that former soldier Ryan McGee, who was found with a bomb with 187 pieces of shrapnel and evidence of a hate ideology was given 2 years and described as a misguided teenager, while these men have been given over 12 years and branded as terrorists despite them having no intention of harming anyone,” asked Begg, who has demanded that the case be appealed.

British security forces have stepped up surveillance and arrests of terrorism suspects in recent months, and lawmakers are set to toughen anti-terrorism laws in a bid to stem the flow of Britons joining Islamic State (IS) jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq. An estimated 500 Britons are reported to have travelled abroad to become jihadists and officials fear the return of battle-hardened and radicalized fighters.

The controversial anti-terrorism powers, which are being widely used to harass and gather intelligence on Muslims traveling to and from the UK, are being challenged by several human rights organizations. Schedule 7, which forms part of the Terrorism Act 2000, allows police to hold someone at a UK port for questioning for up to nine hours about whether they have been involved with acts of terrorism. Anyone detained must “give the examining officer any information in his possession which the officer requests” or face arrest. Police need to have no reasonable suspicion to stop, interrogate or detain anybody.

UK Terror Case against Moazzam Begg Collapses

TMO 

On October 1, 2014 the UK dropped all seven charges against Moazzam Begg, Outreach Director of the Muslim prisoner advocacy organization CAGE, due to “lack of evidence.” The judge, Mr. Justice Wilkie, then “entered a formal verdict of not guilty” and “ordered that Begg be set free immediately.”

CAGE has insisted all along that Begg’s arrest last February was politically motivated, targeting him for his work on exposing complicity between the Asad regime and illegal torture and rendition in Syria. His arrest took place the day before his research report on Syria was to be released to the public. This was the second time that a major Western country has held Moazzam Begg without trial and so serious questions must be asked about why this has been allowed to happen for a second time.

Andy Worthington wrote that “it was impossible to believe that Begg, one of the most scrutinized Muslims in the UK, would have engaged in any activities that could be construed as terrorism.” 

Begg says he suspects the explanation for his wrongful imprisonment probably embraces incompetence, Islamophobia, maliciousness and fear. “I think we will know the answer one day and it will be very embarrassing.”

The “new information” which emerged just in time for his pre-trial hearing includes the minutes of meetings that MI5 had neglected to hand over to police and prosecutors, in which Begg had explained that he was planning to visit Syria in part to investigate the agency’s involvement in kidnapping a man in Syria and bringing him to Libya for torture. MI5 told him they would not stop him.

The Crown Prosecution Services issued a statement that said: “If we had been made aware of all of this information at the time of charging, we would not have charged.”

West Midlands police officers are reportedly furious that MI5 had withheld the minutes of its meetings with Begg for so long. They said that MI5 had pressured local police to arrest him.

It has also emerged in court that not long after that meeting with MI5, Begg’s car was bugged for more than a year. Begg says it is inevitable that he will be bringing civil proceedings against MI5 and the government.

He told the Guardian he “feels cheated” by the prosecutors’ decision to abandon the case against him. “I wanted my day in court; I was spoiling for the fight. I wanted to challenge every allegation in the case against me. I believe that if I had put my case before a jury I would have been acquitted.”

Begg told the Guardian that the Belmarsh high-security prison in south London where he was detained without bail was much more pleasant than the three years he spent in Guantanamo, where he was hooded, handcuffed in stress positions, kicked in the head by US soldiers who threatened his family members with harm.

Nevertheless, he is still “bewildered” that so many British Muslims have faced arrest and imprisonment after returning from Syria. Some, he says, spent no more than a couple of weeks there, during which many were deeply disturbed by the brutality of Isis.

“People returned specifically because they did not want to be part of that … they wanted to come back,” said Begg.

“In Denmark and Germany they are not arresting returnees from Syria. We need to find another way. Not to take young men, some as young as 19, and put them away for 15 years because they made a misjudgment about the way the British government would view them.”

While in Syria, Begg helped to run a training camp in the countryside near Idlib, north-west Syria, where opponents of the regime could undergo military- style physical exercise training and acquire the rudiments of first aid. This, Begg insists, was not an act of terrorism, but an attempt to help people defend themselves against war criminals.

The charges against him involved claims that he attended a terrorist training camp in Syria “knowing or believing instruction or training was provided there for the purposes of terrorism” between October 9, 2012 and April 9, 2013 and that he possessed documents for a purpose connected to terrorism and terrorist funding.

“I was never afraid to go to court. Any right-minded person on a jury would have seen very early on that I am not the terrorist here,” he says.

Amandla Thomas-Johnson, spokesperson for CAGE, said, “Moazzam Begg and his family have suffered over the past 7 months not only because of his incarceration but also because of the financial sanctions imposed upon him, as a result of which his bank accounts (including joint accounts) were frozen or shut down. His wife was unable to pay her utility bills that were held in their joint names without receiving a license from the Treasury, and it became a criminal offense to even try and support his family with money and food during this period. Our thoughts are with his family and we share in the joy of receiving him home again.”

“We call on the CPS to review all ongoing Syria-related terrorism trials to review the evidence and drop charges. We believe many of these trials and the campaigns against Muslim charities and individuals working in Syria are politically motivated fishing expeditions using the wide scope of terror laws and Prevent policy to criminalize Muslims.”

“We also ask that the British state reviews its policies of harassment intimidation and politically motivated prosecutions of Muslims involved in the Syria crisis.”

Mirza Begg, brother of Moazzam Begg, told CAGE, “We are just so happy to have Moazzam home with us in time for Eid.”

Moazzam Begg freed: UK drops charges

Blatant Attempt to Stop Humanitarian Aid to Islamic People in Syria Fails on Legal Grounds. 

http://newtrendmag.org/ntma1570.htm


On Wednesday, October 2, 2014 Moazzam Begg was released from prison after all charges against him were dropped due to "insufficient evidence" that Begg's trips to Syria involved terrorism. Begg's lawyer, Gareth Peirce, who described her client as "a good man trying to the right thing in a very difficult world," told the Guardian that "he should never have been charged, as his activities did not amount to terrorism."

The former Guantanamo inmate had received a generous payout after suing the UK for wrongful imprisonment that enabled him to buy a house in England for his family. Begg became a tireless activist for prisoner rights and served as Outreach Director for CAGE. He was re-arrested in February by the Crown Prosecution Service the day before his report on Syria was scheduled to be released. He was being held without bail in prison, until his sudden release Wednesday.

Government prosecutor Christopher Hehir told the court, "The prosecution have recently become aware of relevant material, in the light of which, after careful and anxious consideration, the conclusion has been reached that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction in this case. The prosecution therefore offers no evidence." Mirza Begg, brother of Moazzam Begg said, "We are just so happy to have Moazzam home with us in time for Eid."

Andy Worthington wrote that "it was impossible to believe that Begg, one of the most scrutinized Muslims in the UK, would have engaged in any activities that could be construed as terrorism."

UK security services had already interviewed Begg before his last trip to Syria in April 2013. Knowing that he was doing research on the US torture rendition program under the Assad regime, they did not prevent him from traveling. However, his passport was taken away upon his return. It is remarkable that the British government has now admitted that they had no case against Begg and dropped the charges - especially compared to the common practice in the US of using prejudice to sway the jury to convict Muslim defendants in the absence of clear and convincing evidence.

Neither the Crown Prosecution Service nor the local police would say what "new material" had impacted the government's decision that the standard of proof had not been met. The local Muslim community and other supporters were extremely active in advocating for Begg and insisting on his innocence and his importance to human rights activism. It is probable that public pressure played a role in his release, especially at this time when the suspicion and demonization of British Muslims that have gone to Syria has increased in intensity.

Amandla Thomas-Johnson, spokesperson for CAGE expressed relief that the ordeal, which had largely paralyzed the prisoner advocacy organization, was over.

"Moazzam Begg and his family have suffered over the past 7 months not only because of his incarceration but also because of the financial sanctions imposed upon him, as a result of which his bank accounts (including joint accounts) were frozen or shut down. His wife was unable to pay her utility bills that were held in their joint names without receiving a license from the Treasury, and it became a criminal offense to even try and support his family with money and food during this period. Our thoughts are with his family and we share in the joy of receiving him home again."

"We call on the CPS to review all ongoing Syria-related terrorism trials to review the evidence and drop charges. We believe many of these trials and the campaigns against Muslim charities and individuals working in Syria are politically motivated fishing expeditions using the wide scope of terror laws and Prevent policy to criminalize Muslims. We also ask that the British state reviews its policies of harassment intimidation and politically motivated prosecutions of Muslims involved in the Syria crisis."

"Everything is terrorism and for those who fear losing their jobs and government funding, terrorism is everything. It is time to change the narrative," wrote Begg the month before his arrest.

Moazzam Begg's past articles can be found on the CAGE website. For example his interviews with British Muslims fighting in Syria and explanation of fighting groups: http://cageuk.org/article/syria-britain%E2%80%99s-new-war-teror and his Islamic explanation of Jihad. http://cageuk.org/article/jihad-and-terrorism-war-words

It remains to be seen whether Begg's written report on torture rendition involving Syrian prisons, confiscated by British police, will now be allowed to be published.

Assets Frozen of UK Human Rights NGO

June 2, 2014 by TMO 

Due to its association with Moazzam Begg, the former Guantanamo prisoner who was re-arrested in March on dubious charges of aiding terrorists in Syria, the UK organization, CAGE, formerly known as Cageprisoners, is paralyzed because their bank account has been frozen. The effects of this political targeting have been severe, including: loss of all of standing order donations, denial of access to funds, and inability to open a bank account elsewhere. What is very curious is that CAGE received a letter from Her Majesty’s Treasury denying government involvement.

“We are sorry to hear that Barclays has frozen the accounts of CAGE and understand the difficulties this presents.” The letter also confirmed that “CAGE is not and has never been subject to financial restriction imposed by the Treasury” and that CAGE should share the letter with Barclays.

CAGE then received a letter from Barclays saying it had received a letter from HM Treasury informing it that Moazzam had been made a Designated Person, and therefore had transferred the CAGE account to a specially designated sanctioned/blocked branch. Barclays stated that this was because Moazzam was an authorized signatory on the account. Barclays confirmed that it had closed the CAGE account.

Simultaneous to the freezing of organizational funds, members of its governing board have also been dealing with personal attacks on their professional integrity. For the first time in their long careers, two of CAGE’s board members are being investigated for fraud and tax evasion. Shortly after the CAGE account was closed, Barclays also closed the personal accounts of CAGE’s Treasurer and a senior CAGE volunteer. CAGE’s Treasurer had been banking with Barclays for over 18 years. No explanation has been provided for the closure of any of those accounts.

“When the timing of these investigations coincides with the treatment of CAGE by HM Treasury, the banks and the Charity Commission, it is evident that there is a more sinister agenda at play,” states a CAGE press release dated May 7, 2014.

“CAGE is compelled to take the view that a concerted effort has been launched to shut the organization down or to severely disrupt its activities to render it operationally ineffective.”
Muslims in American know all too well how charity founders have been accused of fraud  by the neocons behind the government and imprisoned, in order to seize the charity’s assets and prevent the victims of US or Israeli military campaigns from receiving help. CAGE is now being treated as a “designated entity” by the UK despite no wrongdoing.

CAGE is a not-for-profit group which includes seasoned activists, lawyers, doctors and former detainees that “advocates for Muslim political prisoners, specifically those interned as a result of the War on Terror and its peripheral campaigns, by raising awareness of the illegality and the global consequences of their detention. By promoting due process, the vision of the organization is to see a return to the respect of those fundamental norms which transcend religion, societies and political theories.”

It is believed that the main reason CAGE has been targeted by the UK government is because they have been educating people about the UK involvement in kidnapping and torture, known as “rendition,” and documenting abuses of due process. Begg, while imprisoned in Guantanamo, was threatened by the US that if he did not confess to things he never did, he might be sent to Syria for torture. This made him interested in researching how western governments send people to Syria to be tortured. He traveled twice to Syria and interviewed people who had been imprisoned by the Assad regime and wrote several very interesting reports on the current situation there.

Moazzam has not even faced trial yet, so he is innocent until proven guilty. Despite not being convicted of any crime, he is being penalized in a manner in which prospective jurors are likely to perceive his designation as evidence of his guilt. CAGE has written to HM Treasury and the Home Affairs Select Committee. It will be complaining to The Investigatory Powers Tribunal for disruption to its work and also seek assurances from Head of Scotland Yard that it is not being targeted by the Disruption Unit.

CAGE has never solicited personal funds for Moazzam on its website or provided assistance to other designated persons. Had CAGE done so, it would have committed a criminal offense and presumably its directors would have been arrested. The decisions of the banks are even more difficult to fathom as CAGE has been provided with oral and written confirmation from HM Treasury that “CAGE is not and has never been subject to financial restriction imposed by the Treasury” which therefore confirms that we are not a suspect organization. So either the banks are making arbitrary decisions separate from the government, or the government, knowing that its actions are extra-legal, is blaming the banks as a convenience so that it doesn’t have to back up its actions with some kind of explanation.

With a limited pool of money rapidly diminishing with the expected outgoings of rates, bills, salaries and expenses, CAGE is currently surviving largely on the goodwill of staff and supporters, but has been unable to actively engage in its investigative work with most of its resources being invested in dealing with the wave of attacks on its name and reputation. CAGE states that “the irony of an organization, that has for over ten years documented the abuse of due process and the rule of law in the War on Terror, having its bank accounts arbitrarily closed is not lost on us our supporters and will only increase its members motivation to continue its work to hold governments to account for their crimes.”

Moazzam Begg Denied Bail

TMO 

Moazzam Begg

A bail hearing took place on Friday, May 2, 2014 in the Old Bailey courthouse of London for human rights campaigner Moazzam Begg, 45, who was arrested in February on terrorism charges relating to his work in Syria. High Court Justice Nigel Sweeney denied him bail. There is a total media blackout about what arguments took place in court.

“CAGE would like to comment on MB bail hearing… but we have been gagged along with every journalist who attended the court. We direct all media requests to the court and Her Majesty’s government,” reads the website of the organization Begg founded to support political prisoners of the War on Terror.

“It is alleged that between 14 July and 8 August 2013 he became concerned in an arrangement as a result of which money or other property was to be made available to another person, knowing or having reasonable cause to suspect that it would be or might be used for the purposes of terrorism. He is also accused of providing instruction or training between 9 October 2012 and 9 April 2013 knowing the person receiving it intended to use the skills for or in connection with  preparation of acts of terrorism,” reported the Independent, UK.

On March 14, 2014, Begg pled “not guilty” to the charges. A plea hearing is scheduled on July 18 and his trial date is October 6, 2014.

“British Muslims are becoming ensnared by increasingly intrusive and illiberal counter-terrorism policies targeting those deemed to be “extreme” in their faith,” reports Al Jazeera.

The much-beloved former Guantanamo Bay detainee was captured in Pakistan in 2002 by the US and detained in Bagram, the US prison in Afghanistan, before being transferred to the American prison camp in Cuba. The British citizen of Pakistani descent was released in 2005 from Guantanamo without ever being charged with a crime, though the CIA still considers him an Al Qaeda terrorist.

Begg lived in a home in Birmingham, England, which he bought for his family with his compensation money from the US. He is now being held in Belmarsh prison in London. After his sudden arrest in March, his home was raided and searched by a counter-terrorism unit of the police, which set up a “forensic tent” in his backyard and confiscated various things from the house. Police took away two cars belonging to Begg and his wife Sally, 42. A West Midlands Police spokesman told media that the police actions against Begg did ‘not imply any guilt’. Three other local homes were also raided.

A declassified Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) document leaked to the New York times dated November 1, 2003, states:

“Based on the detainee’s folder, the knowledgeability brief, and subsequent interrogations by JTF Guantanamo, the detainee is of significant intelligence value to the United States. Based on the above information, detainee poses a high threat to the U.S., its interests and its allies.”

Former Guantanamo guard, Terry Holdbrooks writes that he “will always be grateful that Moazzam was in GTMO when I was there.  He worked as an intermediary for the guards and detainees and continually helped keep the peace. His ability to reason with the most hate filled, brainwashed and socially inept of guards was a valuable asset for everyone. ”

Begg has reported in detail about British fighters in Syria and other issues related to the civil war, including his interviews with torture victims, on the Cageprisoners website. Begg is not being detained so that the US can find out some secret information. He is being isolated to prevent him from communicating with others.

“Begg was recently stopped by Kent Police at Dover Airport as he accompanied a Syria aid convoy. Several such convoys have been stopped and at least one, in December 2012, was found to contain £36,000 and $10,000 in cash. Police are still investigating what the money was for. Last October, Charity Commission chairman William Shawcross warned it was almost inevitable that some charity money would end up in the hands of terrorists.”

“There has been increasing concern from police and MI5 about an estimated 400 young British Muslims who have travelled to Syria to wage holy war with Al Qaeda-linked groups,” reported Sam Greenhill and Chris Greenwood in the UK Daily Mail.

British imam and author Abdalhaqq Bewley responds, “It appears that Moazzam and others are accused of supporting the training of recruits in Syria. But is it not natural and proper that British Muslims who have made the decision to go and fight –and that is very few by all accounts compared to those who are traveling to Syria for purely humanitarian purposes –that they should receive training before entering the war they want to fight in?

“Why, and on what basis, does that become a crime in British law, subject, apparently, to prosecution and imprisonment in the UK? Is the struggle of the Syrian people to free themselves from what they see as a tyrannical dictatorship, a struggle which was openly supported by the government here until a very short time ago, now being seen through the eyes of that very dictatorship and relegated to the category of being terrorist activity?”

Heba Dabbagh, author of “Just Five Minutes: Nine Years in the Prisons of Syria,” a book that Begg praised highly, prays:

“I ask Allah the Most High, the Greatest to release brother Moazzam from the distress and injustice that has come upon him and to appoint for his family patience to deal with this tribulation.”

British Government Arrests Activist Moazzam Begg

TMO 

Moazzam Begg, who was imprisoned at Guantánamo. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

Former Bagram and Guantanamo prisoner Moazzam Begg was re-arrested on February 26, 2014. On March 1 he was charged with training and aiding terrorists in Syria, to which he pleaded “Not Guilty.” Three other persons were similarly charged.

“All four arrests are connected,” said Detective Superintendent Shaun Edwards, “They were pre-planned and intelligence-led.”

Supporters in the London courtroom tweeted: “It was great to see  #MoazzamBegg again. Even under such circumstances he was smiling and looked well.”

Protesters gathered afterwards outside the West Midlands Police Headquarters, where Begg is imprisoned.

Begg was arrested the very next day after he published an article, “The real reason behind the confiscation of my passport” on the website of the human rights organization that he founded, CagePrisoners, which states:

“In the summer of 2012 I wrote about the first of my two visits to Syria to investigate leads into cases of British and American complicity in the rendition of terrorism suspects to the regime of Bashar al-Asad. This followed on from something I learned first-hand from CIA and US military intelligence agents who threatened to send me to Egypt or Syria if I failed to co-operate with them during my time in the Bagram prison.”

After his release, Begg began campaigning for prisoners detained at Guantanamo and others held in secret detention sites or who had disappeared after being rendered to countries like Libya, Egypt, and Syria, as part of his work for CagePrisoners.

“We conducted numerous investigations into recurrent reports of extreme torture carried out by the Syrian regime and discovered the complicity of the governments of the US, Canada, France, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Britain. I was also constantly being invited to speak all over the world about issues pertaining to Guantanamo, torture, the rule of law and the war on terror… In July last year, I visited Syria where I met numerous former prisoners who had been held by the Asad regime as well as a few victims of US and UK rendition…

“A few months later, in October 2012, I was called by an MI5 officer who said they wanted to talk to me about my views on the situation in Syria after having read my article… At the end of the meeting I was assured by MI5 that my proposed return to Syria to continue my work would not be hindered, and it wasn’t. Subsequently, I travelled to Syria without incident… I am certain that the only reason I am being continually harassed – something that began long before any visit to Syria – is because CagePrisoners and I are at the forefront of investigations and assertions based on hard evidence that British governments, past and present, have been willfully complicit in torture.”

Last month, British police confiscated his iPad, which contained his report. Three weeks later the British government confiscated his passport stating that his previous visits to Syria had constituted involvement in terrorism. Cageprisoners’s media officer, Cerie Bulliyant states that “the timing [of his arrest] coincides with the planned release of a CAGE report on Syria and a major news piece that was due to be televised soon.”

Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain write: “Crucially, it appears that Begg was given explicit permission to take this trip to Syria by Britain’s MI5… That’s all independent of the bizarre spectacle of charging someone with “terrorism” offenses for allegedly helping rebels which the US government itself is aiding and for whom intervention was advocated by the US president as recently as last year.”

Ghaliyaa Haqq, editor of Free Detainees stated that she is dismayed by Begg’s arrest:

“What would bring even more dismay would be the silence of the human rights community and the Ummah itself. We can’t let that happen! Remember, this is a man who spent nightmarish years in Bagram, and Guantanamo.  He was terribly abused, yet when he was finally released – did he go off with his family and live the rest of his life in peace? NO!  He is not the sort of man who could do that – he could never ignore his brothers and sisters undergoing terrible struggle and injustice. So he didn’t.  We can’t either – we cannot let this happen to him again.”

Asim Qureshi, Research Director of CagePrisoners said: “We are disgusted that Moazzam Begg is being retraumatised with the same guilt by association accusations that resulted in his unlawful incarceration in Guantanamo Bay.  We fully support our colleague and see his arrest as politically motivated and as part of a campaign to criminalize legitimate activism.”

UK-based human rights investigator Nawaz Hanif told The Intercept: “The arrest of Moazzam Begg under British anti-terror laws is… utilizing vague terror allegations to stifle investigations into abuses of power….It is pertinent to ask British authorities why Moazzam is being arrested a day before his report on torture and rendition is to be released, and over a year since he last stepped foot in Syria.”

In a statement CAGE said, “This arrest forms a part of the general approach by the UK security agencies which considers any travel to Syria as suspicious. There has been a concerted campaign of harassment against Muslim individuals and charities who get involved in supporting the victims of the Syrian crisis. We do not accept involvement by Moazzam Begg in any form of terrorism. He is simply one of many individuals and charities involved in Syria being viewed with suspicion in an effort to send a message to the wider Muslim community that working in Syria is a no go area for them.

“Moazzam is a leading figure internationally on issues relating to due process and human rights. His advocacy on behalf of the Guantanamo Bay detainees has been recognized across the world, resulting in government’s accepting detainees who could not be returned to their countries of origin. We are also concerned that the Police and the security services are using the wide scope of terrorism laws, and applying them in Syria to set precedents that will make legitimate activity unlawful in future.”

“Everything is terrorism and for those who fear losing their jobs and government funding, terrorism is everything. It is time to change the narrative,” wrote Begg in January of 2014.

In his last Facebook update, posted just hours before his arrest, Begg wrote: “Sometimes knowing too much can be a curse.”