Why is my son still in Guantanamo?

THE last time Azmat Begg spoke to his son Moazzam he was phoning from inside the boot of a car.

Mr Begg will never forget that late night call. "Moazzam said, 'Some people have arrested me. I don't know where they are taking me. I don't know what they are going to do. I think they are two American soldiers assisted by two Pakistani soldiers.'

"He asked me to take care of his wife and children in Islamabad and the telephone was disconnected."

Mr Begg was left stunned by the call. At first he couldn't believe that it was an American-led arrest. "I thought some thugs must have captured him, taken some money from him and were going to kill him. It happens in that area."

Frantic calls to the British High Commission in Pakistan and the Foreign Office yielded no information. Then a representative of the Red Cross called to say Moazzam was being held by the US at its Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. There was no reason given for his incarceration.

That was nearly three years ago. Since then, the only contact Mr Begg has had with his 36-year-old son is a few letters, often heavily censored.

For most of that time Moazzam has been held in solitary confinement at Guantanamo Bay, the infamous American-run prison camp for terrorist suspects in Cuba. He has still not been charged with any offence, and his father does not even know whether he remains in Camp Echo or has been moved to a new cell in Camp X-Ray.

After a US Supreme Court ruling, Moazzam was able to send a detailed letter to his lawyers outlining his treatment in the camp. It was made public last month.

This contained shocking allegations of mistreament. Moazzam claimed that he was kept in solitary confinement because he had witnessed US soldiers murder two other inmates at Bagram.

He wrote that during interviews "I was subjected to pernicious threats of torture, actual vindictive torture and death threats - amongst other coercively employed interrogation techniques".

Protesting that he was a law-abiding Briton who had never met Osama bin Laden or joined al Qaida or any other paramilitary organisation, Moazzam described how he signed a statement for his captors in February last year. But that came after "threats of long-term imprisonment, summary trials and execution".

He added: "Interviews were conducted in an environment of generated fear, resonant with terrifying screams of fellow detainees facing similar methods."

Moazzam said he had not been allowed to see a chaplain or a lawyer, and that even letters from his eight-year-old child were censored.

Following the letter's release, Moazzam's solicitor, Gareth Peirce, said: "We are requesting that the UK government immediately takes this evidence of torture to the United Nations demanding that the USA is held responsible."

He also demanded that the prisoner be brought back to Britain immediately. The result? Nothing better than lip service from Downing Street.

"Recently I heard that it is all in the hands of the British. Nothing to do with the Americans," said Moazzam's father.

"President Bush said 'it's not in my hands. It's in the hands of Mr Blair'.

"My son could be brought back tomorrow. It's not being done. Mr Blair is saying 'we don't want to take the risk to bring them back here because they're dangerous people'."

This failure of Britain to insist on even the most basic human rights for one of her subjects is a bitter blow to Mr Begg. Originally from India, he spent 40 years in the banking industry in Birmingham and comes from a family which has served in the British Army for generations.

"We fought world wars for the British," he said. "So many died there. So many things happened to us.

"How can we be in with terrorists and al Qaida? We can't. Clearly there's a witch hunt."

Moazzam was born in Britain, went to school in Birmingham and studied law. He went on to run a bookshop selling religious and historical books and videos.

In 2001 he moved his family to Afghanistan. Originally he planned to open a school. Denied permission, he instead went about installing water pumps in remote regions.

When the US attacked Afghanistan Moazzam took his family to Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan. That was where he was seized. But why?

Mr Begg said the American military dropped thousands of leaflets around Pakistan's border with Afghanistan which offered rewards to people who passed on information about sightings of possible enemies.

"A lot of the people there are very, very poor. They picked up the leaflets and knew of this man who was newly arrived.

"They got lots and lots of people in that way.

"Most of the people who are at Guantanamo are nothing to do with al Qaida, nothing to do with politics or anything like that. They are there for nothing."

Moazzam's abduction, detention and mistreatment has caused his family huge heartache. He has a wife, Sally, two daughters and two sons, ranging from two years old to eight. He has never seen his youngest child.

"One of the girls saw her father arrested and thrust into the boot of a car," Mr Begg said. "She has nightmares that her father is getting beaten up by the soldiers, and cries, and other members of the family hear her and they all cry. That is the scene in the middle of the night."

Mr Begg, 65, who has a heart condition, is determined to keep fighting for Moazzam. He is sure more would have been done for his son had he not been a Muslim.

Moazzam's astonishingly lucid letter about his ordeal suggests he has borne years of solitary confinement with remarkable courage and mental strength. But his father is not sure how much more he can take.

Angered and bewildered by an Anglo-American abdication of basic human rights, Mr Begg defies his ill health tell his story to whoever will listen. He readily accepted an invitation by York Against The War to speak to their meeting next week.

"We have got to stop this. We are not in a primitive society: there is the rule of law," he said.

"What sort of civilisation is this?

"I am not asking for anything special. I am asking for what's required in the form of law."

Bring Moazzam back home and put him on trial in a British court, he says.

Mr Begg urges everyone who believes in justice to write condemning the situation to their MP, to Tony Blair and to Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, with whom he is due to meet at the end of this month.

Is he hopeful of being reunited with his son? "In this world one has got to have hope. That gives reason to live," Mr Begg says. "Moazzam hopes to see his family again."

Azmat Begg will talk about his son's ordeal at a public meeting organised by York Against The War. It takes place at the Priory Street Centre, York, at 7pm on Tuesday, November 23

JOHN HEAWOOD, of York Against The War, says we must not forget the hidden casualties of the Iraq conflict.

YORK Against The War is grateful to the Evening Press for highlighting Azmat Begg's courageous campaign to free his son Moazzam, held illegally in the US camp at Guantanamo.

And we're grateful to Mr Begg, who will speak, with Lindsey German of the national Stop The War Coalition, at our meeting on Tuesday.

We all see on television the spectacular casualties of the "War on Terror" in Iraq. But we mustn't forget its hidden casualties nearer home: UK citizens and residents arrested and detained under harsh anti-terrorist legislation, which in the name of defending our freedom erodes our most basic civil liberties.

Our Government condemned Saddam for imprisoning Iraqis without trial. Yet it has disastrously failed to free UK citizens, including Moazzam Begg, from US detention in Guantanamo.

And it has suspended European law on human rights in order to detain its own suspects without trial - indefinitely - in Belmarsh Prison in London.

We in York Against The War do not support terrorism, but we believe the aggressive war on terror is counterproductive. It ignores Middle Eastern terrorism's root causes, above all in Israel's policies, and creates more terrorists than it eliminates.

We work to alert people to what their Government is really doing in Iraq, and to let MPs and ministers know what people think of their actions. We support the British troops now in Iraq, and want them home as soon as possible. Our organisation is allied nationally with the newly-formed group of service Families Against The War.

We're encouraged by growing public support, but we always need help in various activities: meetings, vigils, demonstrations and our Saturday stall in St Sampson's Square (1pm to 3pm).

After the November 23 meeting with Azmat Begg and Lindsey German, we look forward to a meeting, provisionally on January 9, on life in Iraq today; and a national demonstration in London on Saturday, March 19, 2005.

To help, or for information, contact our website: www.yorkagainstthewar.org.uk; e-mail: info@yorkagainstthewar.org.uk; phone 07821 155694 or visit our stall.

Updated: 11:23 Friday, November 19, 2004