Moazzam Begg charged with Syria terror offences

MOAZZAM BEGG, the British former Guantanamo Bay detainee, has been charged with terrorist offences in Syria.

Begg, 45, from Birmingham, was charged by West Midlands Police with providing terrorist training and funding terrorism overseas.

He was arrested on Tuesday with two other men, who remain in police custody, and one woman. The woman, Gerrie Tahari, also from Birmingham, has been charged with facilitating terrorism overseas.

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According to the BBC, Begg “is a British citizen who moved to Afghanistan with his family in 2001, before moving again to Pakistan in 2002 when the Afghanistan War started.

“He was detained in Islamabad in January 2002 and taken to Bagram internment centre in Afghanistan for about a year before being transferred to the Guantanamo camp.”

Begg is now a director of Cage, a group that campaigns “against state policies developed as part of the war on terror”, according to its website.

The Times reports that Begg has not previously been charged with any offence.

“Mr Begg has never previously been charged with an offence,” the paper says, “and has always maintained that he has only ever been involved in charity work and not terrorist activity.”