Amnesty International considers cutting links with pressure group Cage
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Version 0 of 1. Amnesty International has said it is considering severing links to the campaign group Cage, which has been criticised for pointing the finger at the security services for the radicalisation of Mohammed Emwazi. Cage has come under growing pressure since it gave a press conference last week in which it said MI5 was partly to blame for the radicalisation of Emwazi, the Londoner labelled “Jihadi John”, with critics accusing the group of being an apologist for terrorism. Organisations that have funded or worked with Cage have also come under fire, and on Monday Amnesty responded by playing down its current links and the prospect of any in future. Kate Allen, the UK director of Amnesty, said it had no formal or financial relationship with Cage, but had campaigned with the organisation on issues relating to Guantánamo and torture. She added: “We support the call for a torture inquiry. We do not support all of Cage’s views or agree with how it expresses them. “We are reviewing whether any future association with the group would now be appropriate.” She added that Amnesty condemned any attempt to apologise for Isis or its human rights abuses. The issue is particularly sensitive for the charity given that, in 2010, the human rights activist Gita Sahgal was suspended from Amnesty after criticising its links with Cage. Also on Monday, the Charity Commission confirmed that it was investigating two significant funders of Cage, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT) and the Anita Roddick Foundation, which have both come under fire for giving cash to the group. The commision said: “Public statements made in the last few days by Cage raise clear questions for a charity considering funding its activities as to how they could comply with their legal duties as charity trustees.” The Roddick Foundation, which has reportedly donated £120,000 has not responded to the outcry. But JRCT, which has given more than £300,000, has said that while it does not necessarily agree with everything Cage says or does, it believes it is asking “legitimate questions”. Cage spokesman Cerie Bullivant told the Guardian: “We are trying our best to expose something that we think is important in keeping this country safe, by working out what causes people to commit political crimes. If the security services are playing a part, we need to look at that. The first thing we said at the press conference is that nothing justifies this, this case is horrific, we don’t want to detract from the terrible loss suffered.” He said the group had campaigned for the release of Islamic State hostage Alan Henning, who was subsequently murdered, and had no intention of offending his family. Criticism following the press conference has also focused on its involvement in cases such as those of Abu Hamza and Lee Rigby killer Michael Adebolajo. “We don’t pick cases because they’re going to win us awards or because they’re trendy,” Bullivant said. “We’ve spoken out on the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11. He should be held accountable but accountable in process. You have to use the legal process that was admired by the world for 800 years. We established the Magna Carta, we celebrate the Magna Carta and at the same time we are setting fire to it.” Bullivant said funding from JRCT and the Anita Roddick Foundation had ceased due to Cage’s bank accounts being closed and added that it was the only pressure group “funded by the [Muslim] community and with grassroots connections with Muslims”. |