An Islamist organization that advocates for violent jihadis in Britain is setting up shop in the United States. CAGE International, which portrays counter-Islamists in Europe as “Islamophobes,” is preparing to do the same thing in the U.S. The organization recently solicited donations from donors in the U.S. with the help of Omar Suleiman and Daniel Haqiqatjou. The two imams, who represent the progressive and conservative wings of American Islamism, have called on their U.S. followers to support which made a name for itself in the years after 9/11 by advocating for terrorists serving time in Guantanamo Bay.
The organization hasn’t released the numbers about the amount of money it has raised in the U.S., but overall, it seems to have done pretty well, raising £650,000 (approximately $828,000) through its “Supporting Our Heroes: From Guantanamo to Gaza” fundraising campaign launched during Ramadan, which took place this past spring. At the very least, CAGE’s American partners helped it to exploit Hamas’s October 7 massacre to promote its Islamist brand to Muslims globally, particularly those living in the U.S.
Suleiman, who is perhaps the most celebrated “moderate” Muslim cleric in America, urged American Muslims to support and fund organizations like CAGE that advocate for what he called “Muslim political prisoners.” His call was featured in a post shared on April 5, 2024 by various CAGE International platforms including X, Instagram, and TikTok.
For his part, Haqiqatjou shared a post in March 2024 on his X account featuring CAGE International outreach director Moazzam Begg’s call on Western Muslims to support his organization and endorsed its activism and advocacy as “another important cause.”
These baby steps help pave the way for CAGE International to gain a foothold in the United States, especially as the British Islamist organization announced its efforts to expand its global reach and influence under the new brand “CAGE International.”
Background – What is CAGE?
Given that public officials and counter-Islamists in the United States have little exposure to CAGE International’s antics, a primer is in order. Here is what decision-makers need to know about the organization.
Established as a company by Adnan Rasheed Siddiqui in 2007 in London, the Islamist organization, which was initially known as CagePrisoners has gone through two rebrandings, emerging first as CAGE in 2013 and as CAGE International in 2023.
The group, which is currently registered as “Cage Advocacy UK Ltd,” describes itself as “an independent advocacy organization” working to “challenge War on Terror inspired state oppression and empower communities to dismantle the discourses and policies of the global War on Terror.” Cloaked in the guise of religion, human rights, and social justice, CAGE International claims that it seeks to “revive divine justice.” To that end, the Islamist organization invokes the invented concept of “Islamophobia” and spearheads campaigns advocating for Al-Qaeda actors, Islamists, and convicted terrorists.
Advocacy for Jihadis
Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee and the most prolific anti-Guantanamo advocate, joined CAGE following his release from American custody in 2007, and in 2009 he became its director. Currently serving as CAGE’s senior outreach director, Begg is best described as an advocate for Islamist jihadism. He celebrated the naming of five senior Taliban leaders held with him in Guantanamo as high-profile ministers in the current government as a “massive victory.” As of this writing, Begg’s Instagram profile photo shows him standing in front of the Taliban’s Islamist white banner in Afghanistan.
Begg has promoted jihadi beliefs. In an online conversation, Begg once praised the concept of violent jihad, stating that he had joined the jihad and the mujahideen in the 1992–1995 Bosnian War and asserted that jihad will remain a sacred and “pristine” Islamic belief until Judgement Day. According to a film produced by Al Jazeera, the media arm of Qatar, Begg visited Afghanistan in 2023 where he met the family of Muhammad Rahim, the last Afghan Guantanamo detainee.
Advocacy for Terrorists
Since its inception, CAGE International has been an Islamist advocacy group operating under the cover of “human rights organization” on behalf of known Al-Qaeda actors and convicted terrorists. For instance, CAGE has lobbied on behalf of Djamel Beghel, the Algerian Islamist recruiter for Al-Qaeda in Europe. Beghel, a jihadi trained in an Al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan who was dispatched by the terrorist group to target American interests in France, was jailed for plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy in Paris in 2001. He also mentored and cajoled Cherif Kouachi and Ahmedy Coulibaly, the perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo carnage and the Jewish Supermarket attack in 2015 in Paris.
CAGE also defended Al-Qaeda ideologues such as Palestinian-Jordanian cleric Omar Mahmoud Othman, better known as Abu Qatadah al-Filistini during his long deportation battle with the UK government. Prior to CAGE’s involvement in this case, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) demanded in 2009 that Abu Qatadah be released in exchange for a British hostage. Later, AQIM killed the British hostage when Abu Qatadah was not freed. In 2013, Abu Qatadah was deported to Jordan where he continued to provide ideological guidance to extremist jihadis operating in Syria and North Africa.
Another notorious Al-Qaeda cleric defended by CAGE was Anwar al-Awlaki who was killed in a US drone strike in western Yemen on September 30, 2011. In 2012, CAGE, then operating under the name CagePrisoners, gave an apologia for Al-Awlaki in a report, deeming his elimination as “unnecessary and disproportional.” In the report, Begg praised Al-Awlaki as a “young, articulate and charismatic Yemeni-American imam,” viewing him as a fellow victim for railing against the US policy against Muslims. In the same report, CAGE recommended, among other things, an end to what it described as the “immoral, unjustifiable, and illegal” drone strikes.
And just like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, CAGE International also defended the female Al-Qaeda operative, Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani scientist convicted of attempting to kill US military personnel in Afghanistan currently serving a 86-year prison sentence in Fort Worth, Texas. On August 19, 2021, CAGE’s senior researcher Asim Qureshi published a report lobbying on behalf of Siddiqui, framing nine allegations against her as “lies and inconsistencies” and falsely asserting that the convicted Al-Qaeda terrorist was primarily detained “due to her religious convictions.” It should be noted that Qureshi described in 2015 Islamic State executioner Mohammed Emwazi, aka Jihadi John, as “extremely gentle, kind” and a “beautiful young man.”
In nearly every case, CAGE International portrays individuals suspected of supporting, participating in, or carrying out acts of terrorism or who have been convicted of terrorism as “political Muslim prisoners.” Furthermore, it views Muslims living in the West as victims of “systems of injustices,” promotes the invented concept of “Islamophobia.” To that end, it works to isolate ordinary Muslims from mainstream Western cultures by normalizing the myth of Muslim persecution.
CAGE International’s Islamist views are embraced and promoted by American preachers who support and sponsor the British organization. For instance, in September 2021 Suleiman himself spoke in a rally calling for the release of Siddiqui outside of the prison where she is held, saying, “‘Where are you for your sister Aafia? […] It is time we reopen the cases of these political prisoners that were put away in sham trials.” It is no surprise that the protest was organized by like-minded Islamist organizations, including the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR)-Texas, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Aafia Foundation, and the Islamic Circle of North America’s Council for Social Justice (CSJ).
As CAGE International eyes global expansion, it appears that the endorsement by Islamist preachers in America is rising to the level of coordination and cooperation. For example, Suleiman shared a stage with CAGE International’s Begg. On June 22, 2024, the two men spoke at a CAGE-organized event in the UK designed to advocate for Al-Qaeda operative Siddiqui as the “daughter of the nation” and “the most oppressed woman in American prison.”
This level of coordination between CAGE International and American preachers should not be ignored as Western governments work against Islamism and jihadism. In March 2024, CAGE International was named, along with the Muslim Association of Britain and Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), by the UK government as organizations that “give rise to concern for their Islamist orientation and views.” Moreover, CAGE’s managing director Muhammad Rabbani was banned from entering France in July 2023 after promoting conspiracy theories about state-sponsored “Islamophobic persecution” of Muslims. This did not stop CAGE International from accusing France in a recent report of “enabling genocide and widespread Islamophobia” ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Conclusion
The danger of CAGE’s activism lies in the Islamist rhetoric that frames the war on terrorism as a war on Muslims and Islam. This narrative mirrors the messaging used by global terrorist groups to resonate with ordinary Muslims. This is extremely problematic for several reasons: firstly, it perpetuates the myth of widespread Muslim persecution, suggesting that Muslims as a whole are under attack rather than focusing on individuals with extreme views. Secondly, it further alienates the Muslim community and hinders their healthy integration into society. Thirdly, it fosters a victimhood mentality, positioning Muslims as victims of the “war on terror,” which contributes to feelings of stigmatization and oppression.
This is why Islamist American voices such as Suleiman and Haqiqatjou call for embracing and supporting the British CAGE International. They aim to legitimize the group’s Islamism in the eyes of ordinary Muslims in America and indoctrinate them. Therefore, both Western governments and ordinary Muslims should unite and stand against this toxic strategy. Failure to do so could result in the proliferation of Islamist and jihadi views in the West.