Moazzam Begg: Difference between revisions

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Moazzam Begg (born 1968) is one of nine British Muslims who were held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the government of the U.S..^[2] He was released without charge on 25 January 2005 along with Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar.

President Bush released Begg over the objections of the Pentagon, the CIA, and the FBI, who alleged that Mr. Begg could be a dangerous terrorist.^[3] After his release from Guantanamo, Begg appeared in the video 21st Century CrUSAders and said the War on Terrorism is really akin to a war against Islam.^[4][5] The British government considers possession of this film to indicate possible radicalization.^[6]

Begg has become a well-known commentator on issues pertaining to the Muslim community in the UK and its anti-terror measures - both domestic and worldwide. He has appeared on numerous radio and television interviews and documentaries, including the BBC's Panorama^[7] and Newsnight^[8] shows, PBS's The Prisoner^[9] Al-Jazeera's Prisoner 345, Taking Liberties, Torturing Democracy, National Geographic's Guantanamo's Secrets^[10] and the Oscar-winning Taxi to the Dark Side.

He has since toured as a speaker about his time in Guantanamo and other detention facilities, characterising the British response to terrorism as racist and disproportionate in comparison to anti-terror measures and legislation meted out during the Troubles in Northern Ireland.^[11] As director for the prisoner rights organisation, Cageprisoners, Begg appears extensively both in the media and around the country, lecturing to large audiences on issues surrounding imprisonment without trial, torture, anti-terror legislation and community relations. In January 2009, Begg toured the UK with former Guantanamo guard, Christopher Arendt, in the Two Sides, One Story tour.^[12] He has authored numerous pieces that have appeared in major broadsheets and magazines around the world^[13][14][15] and, has written an award-winning book detailing life as a Muslim living in the UK and his further experiences in Guantánamo.^[16] Begg also campaigned against U.S. wartime policy with leading human rights organisations like Reprieve, Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Peacemaker and Conflicts Forum.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

Five other British-born men (Ruhal Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Tarek Dergoul, and Jamal Udeen) were released in March 2004.

Begg, who was born to to Muslim parents, is originally from Sparkhill, a suburb of Birmingham, and grew up in the Moseley area of Birmingham.^[23] His father, Azmat Begg, was born in India. His mother died when he was six, and his father sent him to the Jewish King David school in Birmingham, because he thought it inculcated good values.^[23]

As a youth, Begg became a member of a gang in Birmingham called the Lynx Gang. In his autobiography, Begg describes the gang as consisting of teenage boys from Asian, Afro-Caribbean, and Irish backgrounds in his locality who had come together to fight against the extreme right after having suffered severe violence at the hands of neo-nazi skinhead groups.^[24]

He travelled to Afghanistan, where he was with the leader of the Lynx Gang, Syed Murad Meah Butt, known as Niaaz, and to Bosnia, and attempted to travel to Chechnya, and fully acknowledges giving financial support to Muslim combatants, but insists that he never took a combat role for himself.^[25][26] In 1994 he joined a charity delivering aid to Muslims in Bosnia.^[23]

He was first arrested in 1994 as he showed up for work at a benefits office at Small Heath, Birmingham, for alleged involvement in a benefit fraud case and charged with conspiracy to defraud the Department of Social Security.^[26] Butt, now residing in Glasgow, Scotland,^[27] was also charged, pleaded guilty, and served 18 months in jail.^[26][28] In 1999, Butt was jailed for five years in Yemen along with the son of Abu Hamza on a terrorism conviction.^[28][29][26]

The fraud charges against Begg were subsequently dropped.^[26] But a search of his home by anti-terrorist police^[23] reportedly found night vision goggles, a bulletproof vest, and "extremist Islamic literature".^[26] His family said that he was collecting the items as a hobby. Upon his return from Guantanamo, Begg has been asked about this report several times during public meetings, lectures, and interviews. He says the items mentioned were in fact a flak jacket, for protection against shrapnel from mines in Bosnia-one of the most heavily mined countries in the world; a hand-held night vision lens, to help navigate Bosnian streets that lacked electricity. He also claims he knows of no "extremist Islamic literature" being seized at the time.^[30] The latter point, he says, is particularly relevant, claiming one would be hard pressed to find something fitting the category of "extremist Islamic literature" in the way it does today. The items he says were seized are no different than what many aid workers operating in conflict zones might be expected to carry.^[30][26]

In 1999 his Maktabah Al Ansar bookshop in Birmingham commissioned and published a book by Dhiren Barot, who joined the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir against India. Barot, who later pleaded guilty to terror-related charges, wrote in the book, "Terror works, and that is why the believers are commanded to enforce it by Allah."^[31]

In 2000, Special Branch and MI5 officers investigating Islamic terrorism raided the bookshop, and arrested him under British anti-terrorism laws.^[26] They found the bookstore offered titles such as The Virtues of Jihad and Declaration of War.^[32][26] He also said that the store's most popular book was Defence of the Muslim Lands, by al-Qaeda co-founder Abdullah Azzam.^[33] He was released without charge, according to his father.^[32][26] His father also said the British government retrieved encrypted files from his computer, and ordered Begg to open them, but Begg refused, and a judge ruled in his favor and he was released without charge.^[26]

His home in the U.K. was raided by anti-terrorist police in the summer of 2001, and a computer, five floppy disks, and two CD-roms were taken, but no charges were pressed.^[23]

With his wife Zaynab and three young children, Begg moved to Kabul, Afghanistan, in mid-2001.^[26] He insists that his move was to fulfill his dream of being a teacher, and he claimed that he became a charity worker at a school. Allegedly moved by the plight of the Afghan people living under the highly conservative Taliban regime, Begg claims to have travelled to Kabul with his family to start a school for basic education and provide water pumps. Begg had allegedly begun formal sponsorship of this school from the U.K., providing books, teaching materials, and classroom and playground equipment. The school had separate facilities for boys and girls, despite that the Taliban regime opposed to education for females.^{[citation needed]} In his book Enemy Combatant, Begg recalls that he told two U.S. agents who visited him in his Guantanamo cell that "I wanted to live in an Islamic state–one that was free from the corruption and despotism of the rest of the Muslim world," and goes on to say "I knew you wouldn't understand. The Taliban were better than anything Afghanistan has had in the past 25 years."^[34]

When the Allied attack on Afghanistan began in November 2001, Begg and his family evacuated to Islamabad in Pakistan for safety.^[23]

The Guardian and USA Today reported that when al-Qaeda's Derunta training camp was captured in November 2001, a photocopy of a money transfer was found there requesting that a London branch of Pakistan's Habib Bank AG Zurich credit the account of an individual identified as "Moazzam Begg" in Karachi, Pakistan, with a sum of money in sterling.^[35] The money order photocopy was found alongside al-Qaeda training books, listed targets for destruction, hand-drawn sketches of bombs, and bomb-building manuals.^[35] U.S. and Pakistani officials said at the time that they did not know who Begg was, but would try to find him.^[35] However, since his release Begg has said that he is unaware of such a transaction, and that no one has shown him the document.^[36][37]

In February 2002, Begg was arrested in Islamabad on suspicion of links with the Taleban or al-Qaeda by Pakistani police officers and American officers,^[38] in what his family maintains was a case of mistaken identity,^[26] bundled into the back of a car, and taken back to Kabul,^[23] where he was held in a windowless cellar at Bagram airbase for nearly a year.^{[citation needed]}

Begg was held at Bagram Theater Internment Facility for approximately a year, then transferred in February 2003 to Guantanamo Bay.^[38]

In an editorial by Linda Heard in Gulf News in November 2003, Linda Heard wrote that Begg, who wrote his parents that he had no idea of what he was supposed to have done and was "beginning to lose the fight against depression and hopelessness",

"confessed to being part of a plot to spray the British Parliament with anthrax.... Begg's confession has been the cause for hilarity in certain circles; among those who know how difficult it would be to come up with a pilot-less drone, not to mention weaponised anthrax."^[39]

Begg claimed that while at Bagram, he witnessed two other detainees being beaten to death.^[40] He is featured in the film Taxi to the Dark Side, talking about one of the deaths.

He was held for just under three years. The U.S. government considered Begg an enemy combatant, and claimed that he trained at al-Qaeda terrorist camps in Afghanistan.^[41] He was not charged with any crime, nor allowed to consult legal counsel during that time.^[42]

A memo from a meeting held on 9 October 2003 summarizing a meeting between General Geoffrey Miller and his staff and Vincent Cassard of the ICRC, acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Begg, due to "military necessity",^[43] an exception allowed for by the Geneva Conventions.

His American lawyer, Gitanjali Gutierrez, received a handwritten letter from him, dated 12 July 2004.^[44][45] This letter is unusual in that it was the first letter to come from a Guantanamo Bay prisoner without having been censored by American officials. The full text of the letter was passed to his British lawyer, Gareth Peirce.

Several phrases from the letter have been discussed in the media, the most significant being "threats of torture, actual torture, death threats, racial and religious abuse", "cruel and unusual treatment" and "documents ... were signed under duress". The phrase "the deaths of two fellow detainees, at the hands of US military personnel, to which I myself was partially witness" has also attracted much attention, as has his insistence that "I am a law abiding citizen of the UK, and attest vehemently to my innocence, before God and the law, of any crime—though none has even been alleged".

Template:CSRT-Yes^[48] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is a member of al Qaida and other affiliated terrorist organizations.

1. The detainee recruited individuals to attend al Qaida run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan.
2. The detainee provided money and material support to al Qaida terrorist training camps.
3. The detainee has received extensive training at al Qaida run terrorist training camps since 1993. He has been trained on the AK-47, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs), handgun, ambush theory, detection of land mines and he manufacture of improvised grenades.
4. The detainee provided support to al Qaida terrorists by providing shelter for their families while the al Qaida members committed terrorist acts.

b. The detainees engaged in hostile acts against the United States or its coalition Partners.

1. The detainee was armed and prepared to fight on the frontlines against US and allied forces alongside Taliban and al Qaida fighters.
2. The detainee retreated to the Tora Bora Afghanistan along with other Taliban and al Qaida fighters.
3. The detainee engaged in these hostile actions while neither he nor his fellow fighters wore distinctive military emblems on their clothes, not followed a typical chain of command.
4. The detainee provided support to Usama Bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network with full knowledge that Bin Laden had issued a declaration of war against the United States and that the al Qaida network had committed numerous terrorist attacks against the United States and its citizens.

The Combatant Status Review Tribunal was held on 13 November 2004.^[49] Begg's unclassified dossier was published in early 2005, and hosted by the Associated Press. On 3 March 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a Summarized transcripts from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[50] The tribunal considered 6 unclassified documents, and 27 classified documents, before they confirmed that he was an "enemy combatant". He was never brought before a US Court of Justice.

Moazzam Begg asserted that he was not claiming POW status—because he regarded himself as a civilian. However, he submitted a list of witnesses he wanted to testify on his behalf. He thought two of them, an employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and a US officer, could testify that he been classified as a Prisoner of War, and had been issued a POW card. James Crisfield, the legal advisor to the Tribunals, wrote:

The detainee proffered that this witness was an ICRC employee who would testify that the detainee had previously been issued a POW identity card at a U.S. detention facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Tribunal President initially determined that the witness was relevant, but after consultation with the Assistant Legal Advisor, she changed her determination. She based her decision on her conclusion that the Combatant Status Review Tribunals do not have the discretion to determine that a detainee should be classified as a prisoner of war -- only whether the detainee satisfies the definition of "enemy combatant" as provided in references (a) and (b). In my opinion, this decision was correct. It bears noting that in a written statement prepared by the detainee especially for the CSRT, the detainee specifically says that he does not claim POW status (see exhibit D-e).^[51]

Begg's Personal Representative read a brief statement Begg had dictated.^[52]

All Personal Representatives completed a form commenting on the Tribunal's conclusions.^[53] Almost all Personal Representatives checked a box signifying they had no comments.

Begg's Personal Representative however wrote a memo where:^[54]

• Begg's Personal Representative challenged the Tribunal's President and the OARDEC legal advisor conclusion that the witness Begg requested, showing he had previously been classified as a POW were not relevant.
• Begg's Personal Representative challenged the Tribunal's fundamental justice because: "...the Tribunal was instructed to assume that the detainee is an enemy combatant does not provide a means of denying the detainee the right to rebut the presumption."
• Begg's Personal Representative asserted that "...the Tribunal incorrectly ruled the above witnesses not relevant because they were not disputing that the detainee aided the Taliban or al Qaida. POW status would not have precluded these facts from being true."
• Begg's Personal Representative disputed the Tribunal President's and legal advisor's assertion that Tribunals did not have the authority to agree to captive's requests to be truthfulness evaluated during a polygraph examination by a polygraph examiner.

• Begg's Personal Representative concluded: "The above-mentioned failure to view relevant testimony denied this detainee adequate due process as outlined in the order of the convening authority."^[54]

It was reported in mid-November 2004 that the Britons in Guantanamo Bay "expect to face charges within six weeks".^[55] However by the end of December 2004 this time had passed without any news of charges being laid. Later in 2004, Clive Stafford Smith (a British born lawyer then working in the United States), was allowed to visit Begg and Richard Belmar. Smith said that he had heard "credible and consistent evidence" from Mr. Begg of torture, including the use of strappado^[56][57]

The Pentagon has maintained that torture is prohibited at Guantanamo bay, that all credible allegations of abuse are investigated, and that "the United States operates a safe, humane and professional detention operation at Guantanamo that is providing valuable information on the War on Terrorism."

On Monday 11 January 2005, the British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced that the four British citizens remaining in Guantanamo Bay would be returned to Britain "within weeks" after "intensive and complex discussions" with the US government. Though they are still regarded as "enemy combatants" by the US government, no specific charges have been brought against any of them.

On Tuesday 25 January 2005 Begg and the three other British citizen detainees were flown back to the United Kingdom by an RAF aircraft.^[58] On arrival they were arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police and taken to Paddington Green police station for questioning under the Terrorism Act 2000. By 9pm on Wednesday 26 January, all four had been released without charge.

On 9 December 2005 Begg made a video appeal to the Iraqi kidnappers of four Christian peace workers.^[59][60] Begg said seeing the peace workers in Orange boiler suits reminded him of his own incarceration in Guantanamo Bay. He was later joined in his plea by Islamist Mohammed Mahdi Akef and the Muslim Brotherhood.^[61]

Begg is the author of a book about his Guantanamo experiences published in Britain as Enemy Combatant: A British Muslim's Journey To Guantanamo and Back (ISBN 0-7432-8567-0) and in the United States as Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar (ISBN 1-59558-136-7).^[3][62] It was co-written with Victoria Brittain and has been published in Spanish, Arabic, Indonesian, Urdu, Marhati and Portuguese versions.

The book has received praise from a cross-section of reviewers, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Tony Benn, and Jon Snow.

"Much of the Moazzam Begg story is consistent with other accounts of detention conditions in both Afghanistan and Guantanamo," wrote John Sifton, a New York-based official from Human Rights Watch who interviewed former Guantanamo prisoners in Pakistan and Afghanistan.^[63] "It is now clear that there is a systemic problem of abuse throughout the US military's detention facilities — not merely misbehaviour by a few bad apples."

But the New York Times reported "some notable gaps in Mr. Begg's memoir" in that he did not mention a previous arrest nor some of his alleged ties to terrorism.^[3]

Begg was one of the detainees who would have faced charges before a military commission,^[64] but on 29 June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling (Hamdan v. Rumsfeld) that President Bush did not have the authority to set up such commissions.

Begg made the following comment:^[65]

"A lot of us remain skeptical of what this decision will actually accomplish because it only applies to the handful of men who have been charged and Bush has not respected past court decisions. That said, I'm very glad to hear the news and hope it will be the beginning of the end for many of these men."

Begg was a technical advisor for Scottish software company T-Enterprise in the development of video game Rendition: Guantanamo. The game would have put the player in the place of the detainees.^[66][67]

The game was cancelled before it could be marketed due to opposition by the public.^[67]

In 2010, Gita Sahgal, then the head of Amnesty International's gender unit, publicly condemned her organization for its collaboration with Begg, saying that it "constitutes a threat to human rights." In a letter to Amnesty's leadership, she warned: "To be appearing on platforms with Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban, whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment."^[68][69] Sahgal argued that by associating itself with Begg and Cageprisoners, Amnesty is risking its reputation on human rights.^[70][71][72]

After this was report appeared in the press, Begg filed a complaint with the Press Complaints Commission, and notified his attorney to pursue legal action against The Sunday Times.^[73]. Amnesty International posted a response by Widney Brown, Senior Director for International Law and Policy, on its blog LiveWire. ^[74]

Denis MacShane, a Member of the British Parliament, wrote Amnesty saying Sahgal: "rightly called into question Amnesty’s endorsement of Mozzam Begg, whose views on the Taliban and on Islamist jihad stand in total contradiction of everything Amnesty has fought for."^[75] Writing in The National Post, writer Christopher Hitchens said "It's well-nigh incredible that Amnesty should give a platform to people who are shady on this question," and writing in The Spectator journalist Martin Bright said: "It is Gita Sahgal who should be the darling of the human rights establishment, not Moazzam Begg."^[76][77] Journalist Nick Cohen wrote in The Observer "Amnesty is living in the make-believe world ... where it thinks that liberals are free to form alliances with defenders of clerical fascists who want to do everything in their power to suppress liberals, most notably liberal-minded Muslims."^[78][79]

• Guantanamo Bay detention camp
• Bagram Theater Internment Facility
• Torture
• Babar Ahmed
• Lynx Gang

• CagePrisoners.com - featuring articles by Begg
• - Interview wih Moazzam Begg 6 March 2006
• Moazzam Begg Describes Abuse at Bagram and Guantanamo and Witnessing the Killing of Two Fellow Detainees15 March 2006
• Interview with Moazzam Begg 11 July 2005
• The Prisoner, NOW on PBS
• US Department of Defense statements
• Vikram Dodd, Tania Branigan (12 January 2005). "Health fears for 'torture victims'". The Guardian.
• A conversation about detainment, torture, and civil liberties, via videoconference from the U.K. with Moazzam Begg, 12 November 2006
• How Amnesty chose the wrong poster-boy, David Aaronovitch, The Times, 9 February 2010