Moazzam Begg was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and released without charge from Gitmo in 2005
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg was among four people arrested in Britain on Tuesday on suspicion of terror offences relating to Syria, police said.
Begg, 45, who is now a human rights activist, was detained on suspicion of attending a terrorist training camp and facilitating terrorism overseas, said West Midlands Police.
He was held in Guantanamo Bay, the detention camp for terror suspects at a US naval base on Cuba, for nearly three years after being arrested in Pakistan in 2002.
The British citizen was released without charge in 2005 and has since become a speaker and activist for a prisoner rights organisation.
On Tuesday, he was among four people arrested at their homes in Birmingham, central England, “on suspicion of Syria-related terrorism offences.”
A 44-year-old woman and her son aged 20 were held on suspicion of facilitating terror abroad, as was a 36-year-old man at a separate address.
“We can confirm that Moazzam Begg was arrested,” a West Midlands Police spokeswoman said. “We are confirming this name as a result of the anticipated high public interest.”
“This is an arrest, not a charge, and… our naming does not imply any guilt.”
The three homes were being searched by officers from the West Midlands Counter Terrorism Unit, while vehicles and electronic equipment were being removed for forensic analysis.
“All four arrests are connected,” said Detective Superintendent Shaun Edwards, the WM CTU head of investigations. “They were pre-planned and intelligence-led.”
The suspects were being held at a police station in the Birmingham area.
