NOVANEWS
Former Guantánamo Bay detainee accused of providing terrorist training and funding terrorism overseas.
Moazzam Begg was released from Guantánamo Bay in 2005. Photograph: Simon Klingert/AFP/Getty Images
The former Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg is to appear in court on Saturday after he was charged with terrorism offences connected to Syria. Begg, 45, who has became a vocal campaigner against the excesses of the war on terror, is accused of providing terrorist training and funding terrorism overseas, West Midlands police said.
He will appear at Westminster magistrates court alongside a woman, Gerrie Tahari, 44, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, who is charged with facilitating terrorism overseas. Begg was arrested on Tuesday morning on suspicion of attending a training camp in Syria and facilitating terrorism there. Two other men arrested the same day remain in police custody.
Begg, a British citizen originally from Birmingham, moved in 2001 to Afghanistan with his family before relocating to Pakistan in 2002 after the Afghanistan war started.
He was arrested in Islamabad in January 2002 and held in Afghanistan for several months before being transferred to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, from where he was released in 2005.
He has subsequently worked with Cage, a campaigning group which helps those who have suffered from western anti-terrorism measures. The news of the charges came before a planned protest called by Muslims in Birmingham at the decision to arrest Begg, scheduled to be held outside the headquarters of West Midlands police. Police have held meetings with local residents in an attempt to reassure them they acted properly in arresting Begg.
After the arrests, counter terrorism detectives obtained permission to extend custody.
In a statement, West Midlands police said: “A district judge assessed the progress of the investigation and granted a warrant of further detention until the morning of Tuesday 4 March.”
Searches continue at the three home addresses of the individuals detained.
West Midlands police made the announcement of Begg’s charging under terrorism legislation through their Twitter news feed.
He will appear at Westminster magistrates court alongside a woman, Gerrie Tahari, 44, of Sparkbrook, Birmingham, who is charged with facilitating terrorism overseas. Begg was arrested on Tuesday morning on suspicion of attending a training camp in Syria and facilitating terrorism there. Two other men arrested the same day remain in police custody.
Begg, a British citizen originally from Birmingham, moved in 2001 to Afghanistan with his family before relocating to Pakistan in 2002 after the Afghanistan war started.
He was arrested in Islamabad in January 2002 and held in Afghanistan for several months before being transferred to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, from where he was released in 2005.
He has subsequently worked with Cage, a campaigning group which helps those who have suffered from western anti-terrorism measures. The news of the charges came before a planned protest called by Muslims in Birmingham at the decision to arrest Begg, scheduled to be held outside the headquarters of West Midlands police. Police have held meetings with local residents in an attempt to reassure them they acted properly in arresting Begg.
After the arrests, counter terrorism detectives obtained permission to extend custody.
In a statement, West Midlands police said: “A district judge assessed the progress of the investigation and granted a warrant of further detention until the morning of Tuesday 4 March.”
Searches continue at the three home addresses of the individuals detained.
West Midlands police made the announcement of Begg’s charging under terrorism legislation through their Twitter news feed.
