CAGE advocates for due process, the rule of law and an end to the injustices of the War on Terror.
CAGE is an independent grassroots organisation striving for a world free of injustice and oppression. We campaign against discriminatory state policies and advocate for due process and the rule of law.
We work closely with survivors of abuse and mistreatment across the globe, documenting their abuse and enabling them to take action and access due process. We carry out cutting edge research and provide a voice for survivors of the war on terror, challenging the dominant narrative of suspect communities and the perceived threat of terrorism. We empower communities through educational workshops, community events and informative seminars.
Frequently Asked Questions
CAGE began as CagePrisoners in 2003 as an online information portal that documented the most comprehensive listings of cases of prisoners held by the US military at Guantanamo Bay.
For more on our history click here.
CAGE is an independent advocacy organisation working to empower communities impacted by the “War on Terror”. The organisation highlights and campaigns against repressive state policies, developed as part of increasing securitisation. In doing so, we strive for a world free from oppression and injustice.
As such, we seek the application of principles like the presumption of innocence, the rule of law, due process, freedom from arbitrary imprisonment and torture; freedom from religious and racial discrimination; the right to privacy and freedom of movement and holding power to account.
CAGE calls for and believes in the basic concepts of universal human dignity and the right to fair treatment in all societies. Our ethos is based on Islamic principles of justice.
CAGE’s founders include doctors, lawyers and homemakers.
It is staffed by a mixture of academics, professionals, activists, campaigners, students and former prisoners from diverse backgrounds who believe in the objectives of CAGE.
Several of our members regularly lecture at universities and appear or write in both mainstream and alternative media addressing anti-terror laws and state accountability.
From the outset of the War on Terror CAGE has advocated for the return to the rule of law and against human rights abuses conducted against those accused of connections to terrorism. We understand that in doing so, some of our opponents label us as apologists for extremism and terrorism.
We are apologists for neither – our goal is to simply ensure that the pursuit of justice is carried out fairly.
The term ‘radicalisation’ has been co-opted by the state and media to malign those who dissent. All radicalisation is not bad or in need of being tackled. Individuals and movements are celebrated in Britain for their radical politics and resistance to various injustices over the years.
CAGE encourages all those who feel alienated and marginalised by War on Terror policies to actively dissent and hold the state to account for any violations and excesses therein. CAGE also utilises its own vast experience of vilification by the state, imprisonment, torture and expertise in conflict zones to advise those with grievances to seek redress through legal and ethical channels.
Where people are suspected of potentially committing acts of violence we believe Britain has a more-than-adequate policing system to deal with the problem. We oppose the use and implementation of pre-crime strategies that inadvertently create state informants and public suspects.
CAGE does not use, endorse or recognise the terms ‘Islamist’ or ‘jihadist’.
CAGE is a pro-justice organisation with an Islamic ethos.
CAGE recognises the complexities within the debate pertaining to civil liberties and security and calls for the use of sensible, responsible and precise language when debating these matters.
CAGE was primarily established to expose the injustices that arose – and remain to this day – following the imprisonment without charge or trial of 779 men in the US military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A handful of these men were convicted after being tried at kangaroo-style, jury-less courts. None of these trials were conducted in fair, open and transparent courts.
Further, the breadth of terrorism laws in the UK has grown exponentially over the years and has created new terrorism crimes that have little to do with acts of violence.
In this regard, we call for a complete overhaul of anti-terror laws, resultant convictions and ensuing prison sentences. Further, just as in the case of the Birmingham Six and the Guildford Four during the Irish Troubles, we recognise that there have and will be some miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions. We make no representations if we believe processes and convictions to be sound.
We also take great inspiration from a convicted terrorist by the name of Nelson Mandela.
CAGE opposes and rejects all unlawful violence whether committed by state, organisational or individual actors. CAGE is deeply sympathetic to the victims of violence and their loved ones but avoids engaging in this reductive binary and incessant calls to condemn terrorism.
This requirement comes from a place where Muslims are required to establish their own humanity first, before they can be permitted into the conversation on citizenship and equal rights. The underlying reasoning, is “if you do not condemn then by default, you condone.” Solutions to terrorism or politically motivated violence often exist in the most undesirable and unexplored places and CAGE is in search of them.
We regularly engage in dialogue and mediation as a means to conflict resolution and find the language of repeated condemnation unhelpful in seeking solutions.
CAGE operates within the parameters of the law and understands the importance of law enforcement agencies in challenging crime.
However, we also recognise multiple failures of the security services that have at home intruded pervasively into lives of “suspect communities” under the guise of national security and have been complicit in gross human rights violations against foreign and domestic nationals abroad.
CAGE believes that like everyone else, the security services must be accountable to the law and the people.
CAGE’s supporters hail from all backgrounds and sectors of society. Our events up and down the country are very well attended and that is where we find most of our supporters. We also have a strong and active online presence within social media where we attract a great deal of national and international support. Our supporters – past and present – have included actors, playwrights, authors, journalists, lawyers, artists, politicians, peers, clerics, teachers, trade unionists, anti-racists, former soldiers, former prisoners, former hostages, housewives, students, business people and young people – and the list is growing.
CAGE advocates for those wrongfully or unjustly targeted as a result of the growing securitisation. This, by necessity, mostly means men, women and children from the Muslim community. However, we are not oblivious of the struggles of other peoples – past and present. Thus, we regularly comment on and seek just and equal treatment for non-Muslims who face similar injustice at the hands of the state.
We also recognise and appreciate the political struggles of various non-Muslim individuals and movements around the world who were at some point in history regarded as radicals, extremists and terrorists but are today celebrated as statesmen and peacemakers.
For several years our funding came from charities like the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Roddick Foundation. However, following bank account closure in 2014 that has no longer been available.
The truly remarkable thing about CAGE is that it continued to work and grow, unimpeded, from strength to strength, despite imprisonment of our staff, harassment at airports, closure of our bank accounts and state and media vilification.
Today, CAGE is a community-based organisation that is only funded by donations from ordinary people who support our work.
CAGE’s work has been at the forefront in standing up to and challenging the state whether in relation to complicity in torture and false imprisonment or in facing laws and measures that criminalise growing numbers of dissenting voices within Britain’s diverse communities.
We are from those directly and adversely affected by state repression and form part of the civic machinery that helps keep government in check at a time of heightened fear and anti-Muslim rhetoric, laws and crimes. Our track record shows that we stand firm for our principles and are – and have always been – prepared to pay the the price for them.
We have also facilitated the hand of friendship, forgiveness and reconciliation by organising meetings and tours between former Guantanamo guards and prisoners in a truly unique way, finding ways to construct bridges where none existed.
Part of CAGE’s Islamic ethos is the belief that we are all accountable for our actions and, as such, are on ‘watch-lists’ of sorts from the cradle to the grave. However, when it comes to unreasonable state invasions of privacy we firmly oppose it.
Unfortunately, being placed on one government list or another is an increasing phenomena that has grown unchecked because of the lack of unified resistance to such intrusions.
This, however, does not mean that association with CAGE necessitates being put on government lists. The support for CAGE is so wide that such a thing would be very hard to maintain.
There are many ways you can support our work.
- Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
- Follow our Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat and Telegram and share.
- Arrange awareness events and workshops in your locality by request-a-speaker CAGE.
- Offer your skills or expertise to CAGE volunteering or joining our internship
- Donate to CAGE, set up a monthly direct debit and fundraise
Yes. CAGE is an organisation that works for the defence of the oppressed, and for the release of the unjustly incarcerated. We also stand for the principles of Justice. Running an NGO with this purpose in mind is something Scholars such as Shaykh Jafar Idris and other qualified Islamic Jurists we’ve consulted have said is permissible for Zakat insha’Allah.
Differences do exist on this issue. Since Zakat is an individual obligation and each person must dispense of it in a way they believe is appropriate, we encourage you to seek counsel from scholars you trust as to how your Zakat should be spent, should you have any questions.
To learn more about our work contact us here.
Essential Reading

The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison1

Guantánamo Diary: Restored Edition2

Enemy Combatant: My Imprisonment at Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar3

Witnesses of the Unseen: Seven Years in Guantanamo4

Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture5

For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire6

Traitor?7

Inside the Wire: A Military Intelligence Soldier's Eyewitness Account of Life at Guantánamo8

Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable9

The Enemy Combatant Papers: American Justice, the Courts, and the War on Terror10

The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days11

The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals12

My Life with the Taliban (Columbia/Hurst)13

Ambassador POW14

The Terror Presidency: Law and Judgment Inside the Bush Administration15

The Limits of International Law16

Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values17

Rogue Justice: The Making of the Security State18

Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy19

Mafia State: Spies, Surveillance and Russia's Secret Wars20

The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South21

The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World (New Press People's History)22

Seizing Freedom: Slave Emancipation and Liberty for All23

What's Wrong with Rights?: Social Movements, Law and Liberal Imaginations24

Activists and the Surveillance State: Learning from Repression25

What Is Islamophobia?: Racism, Social Movements and the State26

Shadow Lives: The Forgotten Women of the War on Terror27

Catching History on the Wing: Race, Culture and Globalisation (Get Political)28

The Muslims Are Coming: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror29

Deport, Deprive, Extradite: 21st Century State Extremism30

Traces of History: Elementary Structures of Race31

A People's History of the United States32

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy. John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt33

The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man34

The General: The Ordinary Man Who Challenged Guantanamo35

The Return36

Reporting: Writings from the New Yorker37

The Establishment38

Diplomacy (Touchstone Book)39

The Powers That Be40

Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA41

Roots42

Autobiography of Malcolm X43

Fugitive Days: Memoirs of an Antiwar Activist44
Meet our Directors
Meet Our Team
CAGE is constantly looking to expand it’s team. Do you have what it takes to join the CAGE team? Here are some of our current vacancies:
Contact Us
Media Enquiry
For any media related inquiries about our work please contact our Communications Officer via email on press@cage.ngo or call the office.
Volunteer
If you would like to volunteer and help support the work of CAGE, please email volunteer@cage.ngo.