American Civil Liberties Union : Mr. Azmat Begg, Father of Moazzam Begg

There has never been a more urgent need to preserve fundamental privacy protections and our system of checks and balances than the need we face today, as illegal government spying, provisions of the Patriot Act and government-sponsored torture programs transcend the bounds of law and our most treasured values in the name of national security.

Mr. Azmat Begg, Father of Moazzam Begg (3/8/2004)

Families of Guantánamo Detainees

Moazzam Begg with his children.

Mr. Azmat Begg is the father of Moazzam Begg, age 36, who is imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Azmat lives in Sparkhill, Birmingham, England. He and his son are British citizens. Mr. Begg is a retired banker whose family served for generations in the British army. He does not protest his son's innocence for the simple reason that he does not know what is alleged against him. "If he is guilty," Mr Begg said in an interview, "he must be punished."

Moazzam Begg has been placed on the US Military Tribunal docket list for prosecution.

Missing for a month, Moazzam called his father from a trunk of a car on the day he was arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan. Mr. Begg was held at Bagram airbase in Pakistan before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Moazzam Begg is a language teacher and owned an Islamic bookshop in England. Moazzam is married to Sally Begg and is the father of four children: two girls and two boys who are twins. The family has not heard from Moazzam in the past six months. Mr. Begg speaks English and is represented by British barrister Gareth Peirce, the human rights lawyer famous for exposing the miscarriages of justice in the cases of the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six, wrongly accused of being republican terrorists.

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