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Former Terror Suspect's Fears
Phil Miller
The Herald
August 16, 2006
FORMER Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg made an 11th-hour decision not to travel by plane while Britain remained under a heightened terror alert, he told a Scottish audience yesterday.
The 38-year-old British Muslim, who spent almost three years in captivity at the naval base in Cuba, said he was concerned about the scrutiny he might have been subjected to and the feelings of other passengers on the flight.
Mr Begg, from Birmingham, decided at the last minute to catch a train to make his appearance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He told a sell-out audience in the Scottish capital that his anxiety about catching a flight was typical of the experiences faced by many Asian people in the current climate, after September 11 and the London bombings.
"I think this is the environment that people like me - perhaps a Muslim, or Asian or someone from a non-white background - have to deal with on a daily basis, " he said.
"It's getting harder and harder to bring in the voice of reason when there is so much ignorance and hatred around."
Mr Begg, who is promoting his new book Enemy Combatant, said his experience in Guantanamo had made him "stronger and more focused".
Meanwhile, Tony Benn, the veteran Labour politician, talked about terrorism and the Middle East crisis in an interview with The Herald Online.
"When 1000 Lebanese are killed that's called a police action but when a bus or a train is blown up in London that's called terrorism. It's a war. This idea terrorism has nothing to do with war is absurd."
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