Moazzam Begg released after terror charges dropped

[Pimander]

Moazzam Begg released after terror charges dropped

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg has walked free from prison after seven terrorism-related charges against him were dropped.

The charges - which were connected to the conflict in Syria - were dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service after "new material" emerged.

Leaving London's Belmarsh prison, Mr Begg, 46, said he had "wanted his day in court" but was "very happy".

Mr Begg, from Birmingham, was arrested along with three others in February.



Speaking from outside the prison after his release, he said it was "important to point out some of the government's failures in its foreign policy and its internal policy" along with its "clear demonising of the Muslim community".

"Not once but twice in my case this government has been involved either in directly detaining me or indirectly detaining me," Mr Begg said.

He said he needed to "reconnect with my family again" and to "understand what it's like to be a free man".
Insufficient evidence

Mr Begg's trial was due to start on Monday, following a hearing at which he had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

But at a pre-trial review on Wednesday morning lasting just five minutes prosecution lawyers told the court that the CPS had decided there was insufficient evidence to continue with the prosecution.

Mr Begg, was appearing via video link from Belmarsh. He spoke only to confirm his name and made no reaction when the judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, formally acquitted him of all charges.

He had been charged with attending a terrorist training camp in Syria between 9 October 2012 and 9 April 2013.

He was also accused of possessing documents for a purpose connected to terrorism and terrorist funding.

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29442623



Is it just me or does anyone else suspect Begg might have begged for forgiveness in exchange for information of importance to the MI6?

[Wrabbit2000]

I looked up his prisoner file from Gitmo and I'm not sure of the rules at Pegasus for posting material out of formerly (perhaps still technically) classified secret files. His name and accompanying file are part of the 779 prisoner files leaked some time back though.

He was arrested in Pakistan by Pakistani authorities working with an FBI team in 2002. One of his 'criteria' is old as a trainee within a "terrorist camp" in 1993. (Al Badr camp near Khowst). One of the others isn't so subtle as being an Instructor at the Derunta training camp much more recently.

The above is paraphrased, not directly quoted, to avoid those touchy issues of direct sourcing with this one. His Inmate number at Gitmo for people wishing to look deeper into this was US9UK-000558DP. He was deemed a High Threat status and High Intelligence value prisoner in both March and October of 2003, for initial intake interviews and followup interrogation.

Hope that helps with some perspective. Of course..the accused in these things never volunteer the file info on precisely why they find themselves in places like Gitmo. Whatever the case....this wasn't a goat herder turned in by villagers over a bad debt or some crazy thing, as happened more than is decent to talk about in Afghanistan during the early years.

[Pimander]

I looked up his prisoner file from Gitmo and I'm not sure of the rules at Pegasus for posting material out of formerly (perhaps still technically) classified secret files. His name and accompanying file are part of the 779 prisoner files leaked some time back though.

We don't normally want private information like addresses published on here.  Information about the prisoners has already been released by Wikileaks so I don't see what harm publishing what you have here.

https://wikileaks.org/gitmo/

[Wrabbit2000]

Thanks for the clarification. On the above info? I honestly don't know what the current classification status is on those files. I know there are different ways of scanning for and detecting the display of classified material where it isn't authorized to be, so I figured paraphrasing to change the whole syntax and structure of the text was better safe than sorry.

I don't know about anyone else, but the reams of data from the few big releases are so large, I'm still getting through it all and finding new and different things on a regular basis. It's a shame that secrecy has become an end all to itself, and so material that would help greatly to understanding our own recent history and why things are how they are in the world right now is blocked, buried and made illegal to view to most folks. Then...they wonder why we don't trust them simply telling us the sky is blue. (I'll look out a window to confirm that before buying it from a Politician or a Reporter).

[Pimander]

Moazzam Begg offered help over hostage release

Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg offered to help secure the release of British hostage Alan Henning from Islamic State, he has told the BBC.



Mr Begg, 46, said he thought he knew who had been holding the aid worker but said the government rejected his offer.

He said Mr Henning's friends had sought his help and he had told the government he was going to intervene regardless.

The Foreign Office said it had a long-standing policy of not commenting on how it handles kidnap cases.

"The safety of British nationals is paramount," it added in a statement.

Mr Begg, who has just had terror charges against him dropped, said Mr Henning's murder was "despicable" and "indefensible".
'Deaf to all appeals'

He told the BBC he had helped secure the release of hostages from extremists in Syria in the past.

"I intervened by getting some other groups who could pressurise them to release those individuals and I got them released," he said.

"The problem is that the government in its attempts to demonise and criminalise me simply refused to look at anything to do with what I was about."

SOURCE: Moazzam Begg offered help over hostage release

[Wrabbit2000]

So... Basically...a man captured for being a trainer of street fighters in the Afghan camps during the past, promised to try and get a citizen of the nations which jammed him up free, and in a situation he'd been physically removed from by his custody arrangements going back to near the start of the war. Wow.... I suppose no one ought to be shocked then, the hostage died right on schedule to what had been indicated and no one seemed to care either way that this guy was let loose to stop it.

Do these intelligence officers ever stop to ask themselves WHY someone who had been a guest of both the US and UK Governments under very nasty conditions would sincerely WANT to assist either, in any way whatsoever? Oh, I get the deal to buy his freedom part, but he just got that with nothing spent and nothing lost on his side. So....what is done is done. Why would we trust anything the man says now though?

How many people here could sit in a place like the Gitmo prison, then wherever the UK held him afterward, and then come out with anything but bitter feelings for having been run through the system in the first place?

I just don't get the ignorance which seems to come by chasing hope where hope simply doesn't exist. ISIS kills people...and they've kept every promise with regard to that so far. I doubt they will miss one any time soon, either. After all...they are in the opening stage of building credibility and operational history for international relations going forward (if they get anywhere near that phase in one piece). They'd actually do serious harm to their own cause in failing to kill someone they have stated they will.

Crazy...