Father fears son will be executed

Moazzam Begg faces the death penalty

The father of a British terror suspect fears that if Tony Blair fails to secure his son's return to face trial in the UK he will be executed.

Azmat Begg's son Moazzam is one of two British citizens named by US authorities on a list of detainees to be tried before military tribunals in Cuba.

Moazzam Begg, 35, from Sparkbrook, Birmingham, is being held at the Guantanamo Bay military base after being arrested in Pakistan for alleged links to al-Qaida and the Taleban.

Mr Begg called on the Prime Minister to demand his son's repatriation when Mr Blair meets the US President on Thursday.

Mistaken identity

Azmat Begg, who insists his son is innocent and is being detained as a result of a case of mistaken identity, is convinced that the father-of-four will be convicted and executed if he is tried by the US military.

Asked what would happen to his son if Mr Blair failed to secure his extradition, Mr Begg responded: "He will die."

He told BBC Radio 4: "He should be brought here and tried here.

"(Tony Blair) should assure the Americans that our system of justice is quite good and this country is the mother of the democratic world with the oldest legal system in the entire Western world, internationally accepted as a fair and objective legal system."

Insufficient evidence

Reports have suggested that Home Secretary David Blunkett is reluctant to seek extradition of the Guantanamo Bay detainees because of fears that there is insufficient evidence to charge them in a British court.

Mr Begg was critical of the Government's response to his calls for them to assist his son.

"I'm afraid they have not done a proper job," he said. "They are very apologetic and are saying, especially Mr Blunkett, that our laws are not good enough.

"If we don't have the law, put him behind bars and pass a law."

He has been deprived of human rights and given all sorts of torture, like not being given proper water or proper food. Azmat Begg

Moazzam Begg was arrested in Pakistan last February, shortly after the end of the Afghan war, and was transferred to the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba a year later.

His father said that he had been in Afghanistan doing charity work providing clean water to isolated villages and setting up a school.

He had withdrawn to Pakistan during the war, but was planning to return to Afghanistan once the fighting stopped.

Mr Begg senior said his son had no idea why he had been arrested and had been given no indication of what charges he might face.

Charitable work

He may have been in contact with Taliban authorities in Afghanistan prior to the war for practical reasons linked to his charitable work, but had no political affiliation with them, said Azmat Begg.

He added: "He has been deprived of human rights and given all sorts of torture, like not being given proper water or proper food.

Mr Begg has already called on Mr Blair to use his "special relationship" with the US to help bring his son home.

There has also been increased parliamentary pressure on Mr Blair to ensure Moazzam Begg and another British detainee, Feroz Abassi from London, face trial in Britain.

Nearly 250 MPs have signed a parliamentary motion calling on the British suspects to be returned home.

The motion states that the British citizens are unlikely to face a fair trial in Cuba and could face the death penalty.

The MPs also express concern about their mental condition after such a long term of incarceration and say want to see them repatriated for trial.