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| Formation | October 2003 (2003-10) |
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| Type | Advocacy organisation with a focus onMuslim detainees |
| Purpose | To raise awareness of the plight of the detainees held as part of the War on Terror and to "empower communities impacted by the War on Terror" |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Director | Adnan Siddiqui[1] |
| Website | www |
Formerly called | Cageprisoners |
Cage is a London-based advocacy organisation which aims to empower communities impacted by thewar on terror. Cage highlights and campaigns against state policies, developed as part of the War on Terror. The organisation was formed to raise awareness of the plight of detainees held atGuantánamo Bay and elsewhere and has worked closely with former detainees held by the United States and campaigns on behalf of current detainees held without trial.Cage was formerly known as Cageprisoners, and is ordinarily styled as "CAGE".
Cage campaigns against torture, imprisonment without trial, 'draconian' anti-terror laws and similar issues. Human rights groups have also said that Cage is doing vital work. Cage has spoken out against theUK's anti-terrorism laws.[2]
Cage offers support to those denied due process regarding terrorism offences through casework, advocacy and research. The organisation also documents miscarriages of justice. Cage has developed the trust of Muslims who have been subjected to torture, harassment and other abuses, by informing them of their rights and putting them in touch with lawyers. Cage has also campaigned for the release of hostages held by theIslamic State.[3]
According toThe Guardian newspaper, Cage's campaigns to help former detainees re-integrate into society have been praised byCynthia Stroum, the US Ambassador to Luxembourg.[4]
Cage's website was launched in October 2003. It was among the leading organisations which worked on publicising the names of the detainees at Guantanamo.[3] Due to the U.S. government's refusal to publish alist of names until aFreedom of Information lawsuit in 2006,[5] it published names, photos and other information about detainees obtained from detainees' families.[6] The U.S. government's refusal impeded the efforts of lawyers who had wished to represent the detainees there.[7] Cage was formerlyCageprisoners Ltd, and is sometimes styled as "CAGE".
Cage's outreach director,Moazzam Begg, is a Briton fromBirmingham who was held for three years by the United States government inextrajudicial detention as a suspectedenemy combatant atBagram inAfghanistan, and theGuantánamo Bay detainment camp inCuba. He was released without charge in 2005.[8] He has worked to represent detainees still held at Guantánamo, as well as to help former detainees re-integrate into society. He has also been working with governments to persuade them to accept non-national former detainees, some of whom have been refused entry by their countries of origin. Begg has played a crucial role in proving UK complicity in US imprisonment and torture in Bagram and elsewhere, and aided detainees seeking admission and compensation from the UK government.
AfterAnwar al-Awlaki's release from Yemeni detention in 2007, Cage invited the cleric to address theirRamadan fundraising dinners in August 2008 (at Wandsworth Civic Centre,South London, by videolink, as he was banned from entering the UK) and August 2009 atKensington Town Hall.[9] U.S. authorities claimed that Awlaki was a recruiter forAl-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and was involved in the radicalisation of terrorists such asNidal Hassan,Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab,Zachary Adam Chesser,Faisal Shahzad, andRoshonara Choudry.[10] He waskilled by the US in a 2011 drone strike.[11]
Following themurder of Lee Rigby by Michael Adebolajo in May 2013, Cage reported that Adebolajo had suffered harassment from security services before the offence. A report by theIntelligence and Security Committee of the British parliament later confirmed that the British government may have been complicit in his treatment.[12]
In February 2015,Mohamed Emwazi, a 27-year-old Briton, was identified as the probable masked beheader of civilian captives ofISIS in Syria. Emwazi had, between 2009 and January 2012, been in contact with Cage while in the UK, complaining that he was being harassed by British intelligence agencies.[13] At a press conference the following day, Cage's research director, Asim Qureshi, said Emwazi had been "a beautiful young man"[14] and "extremely kind, gentle and soft-spoken". In Qureshi's view, Emwazi's contact with the UK security services had contributed to his transformation into a killer.[15] "Individuals are prevented from travelling, placed under house arrest and in the worst cases tortured, rendered or killed, seemingly on the whim of security agents." - Cage Prime MinisterDavid Cameron and Mayor of LondonBoris Johnson both decried the suggestion that Emwazi's radicalisation was the fault of British authorities.[16] According to the BBC, "Human rights groups say they [Cage] are doing 'vital work' but critics have called the organisation 'apologists for terror'."[2] TheLabourMember of Parliament (MP)John Spellar encouraged charities which funded Cage to rethink in light of their recent comments.[17] An article published in Open Democracy in July 2015 described media response in relation to Qureshi's comments as 'both overwrought and plainly misleading; not to mention a serious dereliction of the journalistic duty to hold power to account.'.[3] Partly as a result of Qureshi's statement, theCharity Commission pressured charities that had previously funded Cageto cease doing so,[18][19] but changed their position on this in October 2015. Following Emwazi's death in a drone strike in November 2015 in theSyrian Civil War, Cage was among those who expressed dissatisfaction that he had not been brought to trial.[20]
On 25 September 2017, Muhammad Rabbani, the international director of Cage, was found guilty atWestminsterMagistrates Court of having wilfully obstructed police atHeathrow Airport by refusing to divulge the passwords to his mobile phone and laptop computer. Rabbani was given aconditional discharge for 12 months and ordered to pay £620 costs. Rabbani had been stopped whilst returning fromQatar, where Rabbani said he had interviewed a man to collect evidence for UK lawyers of that man's claims of having been tortured while in US custody. On two previous occasions Rabbani had refused to hand over passwords at ports and airports and had been allowed to pass.[21]Gareth Peirce, Rabbani's solicitor, said the verdict would be challenged in theUK High Court. The verdict confirmed that UK police have the powers under Schedule 7 of theTerrorism Act 2000 to demand access to electronic devices. Rabbani claimed that he had been protecting the confidentiality of his client.[21] Rabbani and Cage described the conviction as a "moral victory" against Schedule 7.[22] The ordeal of Rabbani's arrest and trial is documented in the filmPhantom Parrot.
In December 2020, Cage and Moazzam Begg received damages of £30,000 plus costs in a libel case they had brought againstThe Times newspaper. In June 2020, a report inThe Times had suggested that Cage and Begg were supporting a man who had been arrested in relation to a knife attack in Reading in which three men were murdered.The Times report also suggested that Cage and Begg were excusing the actions of the accused man by mentioning mistakes made by the police and others. In addition to paying damages,The Times printed an apology. Cage stated that the damages amount would be used to "expose state-sponsored Islamophobia and those complicit with it in the press... The Murdoch press empire has actively supported xenophobic elements and undermined principles of open society and accountability... We will continue to shine a light on war criminals and torture apologists and press barons who fan the flames of hate".[23]
On 14 March 2024,Michael Gove,Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, speaking in Parliament, said CAGE was one of five organisations that would be assessed against the new UK Government definition ofextremism.[24]
Between 2007 and 2014, theJoseph Rowntree Charitable Trust gave grants to Cage totalling £271,250. In a similar period, the Roddick Foundation, founded byAnita Roddick, gave grants totalling £120,000. In 2015, following pressure from the UK government'sCharity Commission, both entities agreed to cease funding Cage. The Charity Commission had said that "Given the nature of [Cage’s] work, and the controversy it has attracted, the Charity Commission has been concerned that such funding risked damaging public trust and confidence in charity".[18]
The Rowntree Trust said the Charity Commission had applied "acute regulatory pressure" and had threatened to institute an exhaustive investigation into the Trust if it refused to stop funding CAGE.[25] The Trust stated that "We believe (Cage) has played an important role in highlighting the ongoing abuses at Guantanamo Bay and at many other sites around the world, including many instances of torture".[17] Cage said that the majority of their income comes from private individuals and that the group "would continue its work regardless of the criticism levelled at it ... even though we aren't a proselytizing organisation, we are a Muslim response to a problem that largely affects Muslims".[17]
In October 2015, following an application forjudicial review by Cage, the Charity Commission changed its position and said it would not in future interfere in the discretion of charities to choose to fund Cage. The judicial review heard evidence thatTheresa Villiers, a British Cabinet Minister, and US intelligence had both applied pressure on the charity commission to investigate Cage, with US intelligence agents describing Cage as a "jihadist front".[25]
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