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Moazzam Begg to be released as terror charges dropped | |
(35 minutes later) | |
The former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg has had seven terrorism-related charges against him dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. | |
The charges were all connected to the conflict in Syria and included an allegation that he attended a terrorist training camp there. | |
Mr Begg is expected to be released from Belmarsh Prison in south London later on Wednesday. | |
He was arrested along with three others in February this year. | |
Insufficient evidence | |
Mr Begg's trial was due to start on Monday, following a hearing at which he had pleaded not guilty to all the charges. | |
But at a pre-trial review on Wednesday morning lasting just five minutes prosecution lawyers told the court that the CPS had decided there was insufficient evidence to continue with the prosecution. | |
Mr Begg, 46, from Birmingham, was appearing via video link from Belmarsh. He spoke only to confirm his name and made no reaction when the judge, Mr Justice Wilkie, formally acquitted him of all charges. | |
He had been charged with attending a terrorist training camp in Syria between 9 October 2012 and 9 April 2013. | |
He was also accused of possessing documents for a purpose connected to terrorism and terrorist funding. | |
Five other charges were related to the possession of an article for a purpose connected to terrorism between 31 December 2012 and 26 February 2014. | |
Mr Begg was held in the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for nearly three years. He had been detained in Pakistan in January 2002 and taken to Bagram internment centre in Afghanistan, where he was held for about a year before being transferred to Guantanamo. | |
He was not charged with any offence while in US custody. |