BEGG: To spread the message on unlawful imprisonment

JUST to look into the eyes of a man who had been wrongly imprisoned was, for me, a form of psychological torture.

Still, what I felt yesterday pales in comparison to what Moazzam Begg had experienced during his unwilling stint in the highly controversial detention facility of Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo) in Cuba.

The 41-year-old is one of nine British citizens who were held at Guantanamo Bay, for crimes he didn’t commit. He was released on Jan 25, 2005, without any charge brought against him.

Begg is now the director for Cageprisoners, a human rights organisation that highlights the plight of Guantanamo Bay prisoners and other detainees held as part of the “War on Terror”.

He is also the author of Enemy Combatant, the first published book by a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner.

Begg is also one of the speakers at the “Criminalise War International Conference and Exhibition” in Putra World Trade Centre.

What are the issues that you will highlight at the conference?

My focus would primarily be centred on Guantanamo Bay and the secret detention process by the United States government.

How does secret detention work?

Secret detention is an ‘extraordinary rendition’ process whereby a person is taken by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or other intelligence groups and placed in hidden locations. These locations can be anywhere in the world. One such location in Asia is Thailand.

So why come to Malaysia?

My work is to spread the message on unlawful imprisonment. Though Malaysia is not involved as a place for secret detention, the possibility is always there. This goes for any other country in the world.

What do you hope to achieve by coming to Malaysia?

My desire is to see justice done. People here may not be outraged by the issues related to Guantanamo Bay prisoners as Malaysians are not directly affected. But here, you have Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who strongly champions the cause to create awareness for crimes committed in war. Gaining his support would be highly beneficial.

Youngsters here may only know of Guantanamo Bay from Michael Moore’s movie Sicko. What do you think of that?

That’s good enough. Michael Moore did a good job in portraying Guantanamo Bay. What he documented was the actual scenario.