External Review into CAGE’s handling of the Mohammed Emwazi Affair report

CAGE Directors commissioned an external review of its handling of the Mohammed Emwazi case and the subsequent media coverage.
Communica were appointed to undertake this review. They were provided with all the material including confidential internal paperwork, interviews with key people, including an independent focus group and analysis of media reporting.
The report concludes that: “the Emwazi affair was unique. It presented CAGE with an extremely pressurised and hostile situation, while also opening opportunities to advance its objectives.”
“Under these unique circumstances CAGE handled most things very well with the limited resources at their disposal. The Emwazi affair has been a steep learning curve for this young civil society organisation. Mistakes were made but these were due to inexperience and poor planning and communication. This allowed a hostile media easily to label and misrepresent CAGE in the way they did.”
“With a greater development of their work and values, combined with better management and training, CAGE will become even better at dealing with the media, communicating their messages and achieving their objectives.”