| Moazzam Begg is one of nine British citizens who were held at Camp X-Ray, Guantánamo Bay by the government of the United States of America. Begg was labelled an ‘enemy combatant’ by the US government, imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and whose precise nature has never been determined. Background Moazzam was born in 1968 in Birmingham to secular Muslim parents. 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. Moazzam is fluent in English, Arabic and Urdu. In his 20s, Begg became more interested in politics. He never fitted one dogma neatly – conservative when it came to family values, leftist when it came to issues of equality. In the early 90s, between his job and studying law, he spent considerable time working in Bosnia as part of the relief effort. Moved by the plight of the Afghani people, in 2001 Begg travelled to Kabul with his family to start a school for basic education and provide water pumps. When the allied attack on Afghanistan began in October 2001, Begg and his family moved to Islamabad in Pakistan for safety. Kidnapped in Pakistan, detained in Bagram and sent to Guantanamo It was in Pakistan that he was seized in January 2002 by Pakistani police and CIA officers, bundled into a back of a car and taken back to Kabul, where he was held in a windowless cell at Bagram airbase for nearly a year – where he witnessed the death of two prisoners by US soldiers. After this, he was sent to Guantanamo Bay where he remained for two years – mostly in solitary confinement. During his time in custody he memorised large parts of the Quran. He was released on January 25, 2005 without charge though he received no explanation or apology. A voice for the voiceless Upon his return, he authored an award-winning book detailing life as a Muslim living in the UK and his further experiences in Guantánamo. Enemy Combatant is the first book to be published by a former Guantánamo Bay prisoner – which has been translated into several languages and was featured in numerous British book festivals. He also became the director for the prisoner human rights organisation, CagePrisoners (now known as CAGE) and has since then become one of the most authoritative voices against the War on Terror. Moazzam appears extensively both in the media in the UK and internationally, lecturing on issues surrounding imprisonment without trial, torture, anti-terror legislation and community relations. Moazzam has worked very closely with leading human rights organisations and has worked closely with Reprieve, Amnesty International, Islamic Human Rights Commission, the Law Society, American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Constitutional Rights, Rewind, Peacemaker and Conflicts Forum. Delivering talks around the world Moazzam has delivered hundreds of speeches at schools, colleges and regularly speaks at the UK’s top universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, LSE, UCL, Warwick, York and Durham. He has addressed multi-faith audiences across the UK, including the historic Wells and Blackburn Cathedrals. He has been a keynote speaker at the Jewish Forum for Human Rights. He has also been a regular visitor to Northern Ireland where he has met with numerous former prisoners to discuss the peace process as well as similarities between the Muslim and Irish experience in the UK. Moazzam has also delivered Friday sermons at many mosques, including one at the Al-Quds Masjid in Cape Town, South Africa where over 6,000 worshippers attended and another in Jamia Masjid, Nairobi to over 12,000 people. In January 2009, Moazzam made a momentous tour around the UK with former Guantanamo guard, Christopher Arendt, in the Two Sides, One Story tour. Later that year he and CagePrisoners took part in the historic Convention on Modern Liberty. He also spoke in Dubai with former Guantanamo soldier Terry Holdbrooks and the world-renown Professor Dr. Philip Zimbardo on the effects of torture on the human psyche at Boldtalks 2011. He delivered presentations in front of several world leaders and politicians including Mahathir Mohammed (former Prime Minister, Malaysia), Martin McGuiness (Deputy First Secretary, Northern Ireland), Mahmood Ahmedinajad (President, Iran) and Kenneth Clark (Lord Chancellor, UK). Read more Read more about Moazzam Begg's case on his case profile. http://www.cageuk.org/case/moazzam-begg |