50 Years On, from the Birmingham Six to the Birmingham Four: Suspect communities on trial
Event Details
Join us as we premiere CAGE International’s documentary on the case of the Birmingham Four, 4 innocent men who were set up by police and have spent the last 8 years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit.
On 21 November 2024, we marked 50 years since the wrongful arrests and 16-year imprisonment of six innocent Irish men who were framed by West Midlands Police. The Birmingham Six trial riddled with planted evidence and police corruption, saw six Irish men sentenced to life imprisonment in 1975 before their convictions were finally overturned by the Court of Appeal in 1991.
16 years after their release, another case of police corruption emerged, this time targeting the Muslim community. Four young Muslim men were targeted by the police, evidence was planted on them and they were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
The film premiere will be followed by a panel discussion with:
CAGE International Senior Director Moazzam Begg, renowned human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce, and Mariam Hussain campaigner for the Birmingham Four
Speakers
Moazzam Begg
Senior Director
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.
Gareth Peirce
Human Rights Lawyer
Gareth Peirce is a human rights lawyer who has since the 1970s represented individuals accused of involvement in terrorism from both the Irish and the Muslim communities. Inspired by the U.S. civil-rights movement, Peirce first made headlines by securing the release of falsely imprisoned IRA suspects. She has been incensed by the anti-terror regulations introduced since September 11. Her dedication to clients remains seemingly undiminished by decades of prison visits and interminable waits for judgments in gloomy courthouse corridors. Her clients include the Birmingham Six, the Guildford four, former MI5 operative David Shayler, Guantanamo detainees, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, and many of the men detained without trial in the UK or under a control order regime.
Mariam Hussain
Sister of Khobaib Hussain
Mariam is the sister of one of the Birmingham Four, Khobaib Hussain, she is a campaigner who has been advocating for her brother and the 3 other men set up by West Midlands Police, known as the Birmingham Four, who have been unjustly incarcerated for life, for a crime they did not commit.
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