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Briton facing US trial in Cuba was previously arrested by MI5 | ||||
2003-07-06 | ||||
One of the two Britons facing terrorism changes - and, possibly, the death penalty before a US military court in Guantanamo Bay was arrested three years ago by Special Branch and MI5 officers investigating Islamic terrorism. Moazzam Begg, who is among nine Britons detained in Camp Delta at the base in Cuba, was arrested under anti-terrorism laws in 2000 during a raid on the Maktabah Al Ansar bookshop in Birmingham. He was released without charge. This newspaper has also learnt that Mr Begg, whose family vehemently deny that he has any connection with Islamic terrorists, was found to have night-vision goggles and a flak jacket at his home when he was arrested in 1994 by police investigating an alleged benefits fraud. Fraud charges levied against Mr Begg as a result of that investigation were later dropped. However, a friend, Shahid Akram Butt, was jailed for 18 months after admitting obtaining money by deception; in 1999, Butt was jailed in Yemen on terrorism charges. Last week's announcement that Mr Begg would be one the Britons in Guantanamo Bay to face charges has caused a storm of protest in the UK. Storm in a teacup, from all I've noticed. Baroness Symons, the Foreign Office minister, said that she had "serious reservations" about the principle of Mr Begg and Feroz Abbasi, another Briton accused of terrorism, being tried by a military tribunal without an independent appeals process. Lady Symons added that she would have a "very vigorous discussion" with her American counterparts over the nature of the trial.
D'oh, Telegraph, I expect better of you! The charges against Mr Begg were later dropped for lack of evidence but the case against Butt proceeded. After his release, Butt travelled abroad and in 1999 he was jailed for five years after being convicted of terrorism in Yemen along with Mustapha Kamil, the son of Abu Hamza, the hook-handed cleric fighting deportation from Britain. If you go touring foreign jails, who better to hook up with? Last night Azmat Begg confirmed that his son had been arrested and charged in 1994 but insisted that this meant nothing, saying: "He was just suspected: the case was dropped. The items they [the police] took had nothing to do with al-Qaeda or anybody. Aliens, perhaps? They were entirely innocent. If I have night-vision goggles does that make me a suspected member of al-Qaeda?" In your case, Sir? When asked about the flak jacket that was seized, Mr Begg said that his son was merely indulging a "hobby" which included collecting weapons.
Poor guy! All this hastle because he wore a beard! And some other stuff. He added, however, that the investigations into his son came to nothing, saying: "They couldn't do anything. They didn't find anything. He was arrested. They thought that he was doing something funny. Who was laughing? "They knew he had a computer and thought what he was doing was stored in the computer so they took it away. He was laughing. Oh, he was laughing. They tried to get him to reveal the code on his computer. They took him to court and the judge said he could not compel him to reveal it." WTF? Moazzam Begg travelled to Afghanistan in April 2001 to | ||||
Posted by:Bulldog |