Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Beg was finally cleared of seven terror counts at the Old Bailey in Birmingham. The 45 year old was accused of attending a terrorist training camp in Syria as well as funding terrorist activities and had been in custody since March 2014 in the high security Belmarsh prison, South London.
Mr Begg, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder due to his time spent in Guantanamo Bay, was also refused bail due to mental health problems in a hearing in May. On being released he told reporters: “I need to reconnect with my family again. I need to understand what it’s like to be a free man and it’s important to point out some of the Government’s failures in its foreign policy and its internal policy. It’s clear demonising of the Muslim community.”
Moazzam has been urged by his supporters to sue the government for at least £100,000 since it was such a high profile arrest and imprisonment. The father of four has previously been paid out around £1 million after he and a group of British detainees accused officials of complicity when they spent two years in the US military prison before he was released in 2005.
West Midlands Police assistant chief constable Marcus Beale said: “Terrorism investigations are often long and complex. This case was no exception. From the beginning, this case has challenged the relationship between West Midlands Police and some of the communities we serve.”
This is the second time Begg has been related to such a serious charge and his solicitor Gareth Peirce, wholly disagrees, “Moazzam Begg is a good and brave man. He is a rare individual who will talk to everyone and listen to everyone, even those with whom he profoundly disagrees.” She continued to portray her client’s innocence by saying, ‘There is nothing new that can have been discovered now that was not always crystal clear, that this is an innocent man.”
