Book a Speaker

A British-born Muslim, Moazzam Begg is a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner and outreach director for CAGE.

After his release, he became one of the most prominent public-speakers and Muslim advocates for justice and dialogue. 

He is the author of the best-seller Enemy Combatant in which he recounts his experience as an innocent man detained and torture at Guantanamo, Bagram and Kandahar.

The Muslim 500 listed him as one of the 500 “most influential Muslims” in the world.
The New Statesman listed him in the top 50 “Heroes of our time”.

He has travelled extensively to investigate state abuses and western complicity in torture including to Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria.

A direct eye-witness to the conflicts in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Syria, his life has been recorded by the Columbia University Oral History project, and the BBC Storyville documentary, The Confession.

Dr Asim Qureshi is the Research Director at CAGE. He graduated in Law (LLB Hons) LLM, specialising in International Law and Islamic Law. In 2018, he completed his PhD in International Conflict Analysis from the University of Kent. He has published a wide range of NGO reports, academic journals and articles.
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Since 2010, he has been advising legal teams involved in defending death penalty trials in the US and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
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He is also the author and editor of three books so far: In 2009, "Rules of the Game: Detention, Deportation, Disappearance" (Hurst, Columbia UP), "A Virtue of Disobedience" (Unbound and ByLine Books), and "I Refuse to Condemn: Resisting racism in times of national security" (Manchester University Press).
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An avid reader, Asim launched thebookslamist.com, a book review platform dedicated to encouraging readers to reflect on how books have made them think.

Muhammad Rabbani is the Managing Director of CAGE. A committed community organiser, Rabbani previously spent several years bettering his area by piloting pioneering gang mediation services, and youth programs in one of Britain’s poorest boroughs.

As the managing Director of CAGE, he was instrumental in bringing to light torture cases and state abuses, seeking justice and accountability for victims. His name rose to prominence as a privacy advocate when he refused to hand over his password to British police in order to protect the testimony of a torture survivor. He became the figurehead of a popular campaign supported by numerous pro-privacy organisations and ordinary citizens, demanding the roll-back of draconian police powers.

He is a regular guest on international forums and media, as well as an educator at the grassroot-level.

Azad Ali  is a well-known figure in the Muslim community in Britain, and has been a community organiser for over 30 years. A former civil servant, he has founded, and directed several grassroots organisations dedicated to oppose Islamophobia and racism. In his free time, Azad is also a blogger, a TV presenter, and an avid cyclist. He is currently the Director of Operations at CAGE.

Anas Mustapha is the Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE UK, guiding media strategy and pioneering high-impact research and reports. He is a speaker and advocate against the abuse of state power, specialising across the breadth of UK Counter Terrorism. Anas holds a degree in English language, is a native Arabic speaker and a student of Islamic sciences.

Naila Ahmed has a legal background with a specialism in human rights and counterterrorism law. She is Head of Campaigns at CAGE International. She has been involved in public law cases and has extensive experience working with those impacted by state violence from across the world, including supporting them through campaigning.

Shezana Hafiz  has spent years involved in grassroots community work, campaigning on justice related issues, and leading on some of the most pertinent issues threatening fundamental human rights. She is currently the Outreach Coordinator at CAGE and also most recently was the Campaign Coordinator for the International Witness Campaign lead by CAGE which explored two decades of the war on terror, its impact, its failures and its future, while promoting solidarity, justice and dialogue.

Mansoor grew up in a rural village in Yemen. At the age of 19, he was taken to Guantanamo in a case of mistaken identity. He remained imprisoned there for 15 years. In 2016, Mansoor was released, but his plight did not end. He was transferred to Serbia, a country he had no connection with. Despite his daily struggles in Belgrade, Mansoor writes, creates artwork, and advocates for prisoners rights. He has recently published his memoir “Don’t forget us here” (Hachette). His work has been featured by the New York Times, BBC radio, CBC radio, WNYC, and the John Jay College of Justice.