Moazzam Begg and Asim Qureshi

Moazzam Begg is the Director of Cageprisoners and ex-Guantanamo detainee. He is a British citizen who was kidnapped by US security forces in Pakistan in February 2002 on the pretext that he was an “enemy combatant.” He was rendered from Pakistan to Afghanistan, where he was subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment during interrogation. He was later flown – again, without legal process – to the American prison in Guantanamo Bay, and kept there without charge or access to justice until January 2005. He was released by order of President George W. Bush after discussions with the UK government. Since his release, Begg has campaigned with Cageprisoners for the rights of victims of the same detention policies, and worked to promote awareness of the fact that the US government was involved in the kidnap, torture, illegal trafficking and due-process-free imprisonment of innocents around the world. Asim Qureshi is the Executive Director of Cageprisoners, a former corporate lawyer. He joined Cageprisoners because he was drawn to the plight of Muslims around the world under Bush-era detention policies. Working for years as a researcher and writer within the NGO, he investigated abrogations of the rule of law – primarily against Muslims – around the world, in Pakistan, Bosnia, Kenya, Sudan, Sweden, the US and the UK. Qureshi is a frequent consultant for other NGOs, and a regular columnist, producing articles on unlawful detention, rendition and torture. Writing on the religious and cultural sensitivities of Muslims in the context of the so-called ‘War on Terror,’ he hopes to promote understanding between Muslim communities and the wider West.