Birmingham 4 Campaign Spotlights at Parliamentary Event on Miscarriages of Justice

London - On Tuesday evening, The Justice Gap, a leading advocacy organisation convened a crucial event in Parliament to address miscarriages of justice in the UK legal system. At the forefront of this discussion stood the harrowing case of the Birmingham 4 - four Muslim men who fell victim to police entrapment.

Featuring Moazzam Begg, Senior Director of CAGE International, the event brought together key figures including Maryam Hussain, whose brother Khobaib Hussain is one of the Birmingham four. Maryam shared a poignant letter from her brother, shedding light on serious criminal allegations committed by police officers involved in the case . Lawyers Gareth Pierce and Steven Kamlish KC, legal representatives of the four men, also addressed the attendees and exposed the multitude of lies and cover ups encountered throughout the trial and as well as the entrenched Islamophobic attitudes within the legal system.

CAGE International has been leading a campaign to highlight the wrongful conviction of the Birmingham 4, to fight for their exoneration from prison and see corrupt police officers held to account. This campaign has been highlighted in a powerful documentary called The Birmingham 4 which sheds light on the nefarious nature of undercover policing in this case and how four innocent men fell prey to a sting operation that was set up against them in a dramatic series of events in 2016. 

The case of the Birmingham 4 parallels that of the Guilford 4 and the Birmingham 6 in which innocent Irish men were charged, convicted and jailed for crimes they did not commit.

Moazzam Begg, Senior Director at CAGE International and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, said: 

“It was like being a witness to a bizarre replay of history. Chairing a packed meeting in parliament where Gareth Peirce, who once fought to free her Irish clients falsely imprisoned for terrorism in the 1970s, now fighting for four innocent Muslims facing the same ordeal five decades later. 

MPs, peers, lawyers, legal reform activists, journalists and former prisoners were all there. No one left not knowing about the plight of the Birmingham 4. It was a watershed moment. The case must now be reviewed diligently by the Criminal Cases Review Commission - an independent body born out of the injustices of the Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4.

These men are in prison because of a perception. There were no victims in this case -  except those convicted. This case is finally beginning to get the traction it deserves but it's not over until the men are free and the corrupt officers face justice.”

Khobaib Hussain, one of the Birmingham 4 wrongfully convicted, said in a letter:

“It's become so easy to convict someone for a crime they have not done. All you have to do is convince 12 random jury members but in my case 11 who ignored the facts and evidence. Sometimes I think, how did this all happen in the UK, a state who talks about human rights abuses? But this is an abuse. look at the number of cases we all know of including fellow prisoners such as Omar Benguit who is on my wing! He has been in prison for over 20 years!

There needs to be proper accountability and deterrents so corrupt police officers never imagine doing such a thing in the future. These deterrents need to be that corrupt officers are tried and convicted for perjury, fabrication of evidence, corruption and criminal behaviour.”