Moazzam Begg ex-Guantanamo prisoner - In conversation with Fr Alex Frost - The God Cast Interview

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Moazzam Begg was born in the suburbs of Birmingham in 1968, grew up in Moseley, and holds dual UK-Pakistani citizenship. During his secondary education, Begg became a member of the Birmingham Lynx street gang, which was formed to combat persecution by far-right anti-immigrant groups. Begg attended Solihull College and then the University of Wolverhampton, where he studied Law for two years before dropping out.Begg became interested in Islam during a family vacation to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in his late teens. He returned to Pakistan in late 1993 and decided to cross the Pakistan–Afghan border to go to a camp where US-backed nationalist and Islamic insurgents were training to fight the Soviet-backed Afghan government. Begg admitted that he travelled to Bosnia in the early 1990s to support Muslims during the war after being inspired by the “mujahideen’s” dedication. He stated that he was “terrified by some of the reports... of the horrors taking place there.” In 1994, he joined a foundation that dealt with Bosnian Muslims. Begg also attempted to visit Chechnya during its battle with Russia in the early 1990s. While he believed that “fighting wasn't out of the question,” he claims that he did not take part in the armed battle but did provide financial aid to foreign militants. At the time of his arrest in 1994, anti-terrorist police allegedly discovered night vision goggles, a flak jacket, and “extreme Islamist literature” in his residence. Begg argued that the goggles and flak jacket were from his charity work in Bosnia and Chechnya, and he denied having any “extremist Islamist material.” Begg, according to his father, has been collecting military memorials as a passion since childhood.According to the Pentagon, Begg received extensive training at three al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist camps. Begg was identified as a “member of al-Qaeda and affiliated organisations” who was "engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners” in Afghanistan and “provided support to al-Qaeda terrorists, by providing shelter for their families,” according to the statement. Begg rejected all of these allegations, claiming that he “never planned, assisted, or participated in any assaults on Westerners.”

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