Breaking News! Moazzam Begg - charges dropped

Follow @JohnPlatinumG Great news just in. Charges against Moazzam Begg have been dropped due to lack of evidence. Some of us have strongly suspected this was a fabrication from the start. It is why I have been carrying the ‪#‎ReleaseMoazzam‬ link and photo for the last eight months as my Facebook tag picture. Now all those who knew it was a put up job have been vindicated but that does not justify holding anybody prisoner under the unjust anti-terrorism laws enacted this century.

Moazzam (centre figure) at the disturbing Guantanamo Boy film showing earlier this year. Photo Robert Brenchley.

Asim Qureshi, Research Director of CAGE, said:

"This has been a testing time for Moazzam, his family and the Muslim community. The criminalisation of virtually any Muslim that has been to Syria has only increased in intensity, while CAGE has been attacked from every angle by a host of government agencies. We hope that Moazzam's release is a sign that the government are now willing to adopt a more measured strategy in relation to anti-terrorism policy and avoid the attempt to criminalise all dissent and crush any organisation like CAGE that stands up for the rule of law and justice."

"CAGE and Moazzam have been maligned , defamed and vilified by far too many and we hope that now our calls for the protection of basic rights and innovative approaches built on dialogue to dispute resolution will now be heeded. Violence and the destruction of freedoms and liberties inherent in the War on Terror doctrine can never be the solution."

"We thank everyone for their support of Moazzam, his family and the CAGE movement."

Something sinister in the heart of government

Follow @JohnPlatinumG In February this year Moazzam Begg was arrested and has been detained in police custody to appear on terrorist-related charges in October. Anybody with an ounce of reason knows this is a trumped-up charge to protect the secret services from allegations of torture against them. Begg was collecting evidence to go with that he already has collected. What is even more sinister is that since his arrest some unknown sources have prevented Cage (formerly Cage Prisoners) from accessing their money or receiving donations.

Thankfully, there are still some good honest journalists, and Peter Oborne, chief political commentator of the Telegraph, together with Alex Delmar-Morgan, has questioned who has this power to stop a legitimate organisation from accessing its own money and continuing to operate in an unimpeded manner. At a time when civil liberties have been, and are being, severely challenged by an uncaring government, when mainstream media concentrate on mundane stories in preference to the real news, it is heartening to know that some journalists like Peter Oborne, Robert Fisk, Glenn Greenwald, John Pilger and a few others pursue the real stories.

The prime minister, David Cameron, Michael Gove (when he was education minister) and Theresa May have all in one way or another demonstrated their hatred of Islam in an attempt to create an enemy that did not exist before on behalf of their US masters. All this hatred of Islam started long ago and a series of Acts has been introduced to remove the rights of, almost exclusively, Muslims. Thus Muslims can be imprisoned without charge or trial, and extradited or deported without evidence. The Gibson Inquiry was halted on Cameron's instructions because it showed our secret services in a bad light. The most recent act, the Justice and Security Act, allows for those complicit in torture to have their identities concealed and for hearings to take place in secret. It is the latest in a cynical set of acts designed to further erode civil liberties and keep the secret services unaccountable.

We need a People's Parliament. Most of those there now are not fit for purpose.