in Yemen in 2007. Al-Awlaki was invited to address CAGE's' Ramadan fundraising dinners in August 2008 at Wandsworth Civic Centre, South London (by videolink, as he was banned from entering the UK), and August 2009 at Kensington Town Hall. Passport refusal and confiscation In February 2005, British Home Secretary Charles Clarke refused to issue Begg a passport. He did so based on information obtained while Begg was in US custody. He said "there are strong grounds for believing that, on leaving the UK, [Begg] would take part in activities against the United Kingdom or allied targets". Clarke used Royal prerogative to refuse the passport which had only been used 13 times since 1947 in this way – the previous time being in 1976. A British passport was issued in 2009, but in 2013 it was confiscated at Heathrow airport upon Begg's return from a trip to South Africa. The Home Office said that Begg had been assessed as having been involved in terrorist activity due to a trip to Syria the previous year. Begg claimed that the real reason for the confiscation was his campaign to prove UK and US complicity in the use of torture and rendition of suspects, and that he had been stopped for questioning almost every time he had travelled, even when returning from an official speaking invitation at the European Parliament. In January 2022, Begg announced he was taking legal action for a judicial review of the British Home Secretary's rejection of his application for a passport, which had been confiscated in 2013. In February 2022 VICE World News published an interview of Mr Begg in which refers to his continuing “harassment” by authorities. Public positions Since his release, Begg has stated he is against attacks such as 9/11 but that he supported those fighting against British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, referring to Afghanistan, Begg said he completely supported the inalienable right of the people to fight "foreign occupation" . . . if resisting the occupation of Afghanistan was not only considered good but lionised [in the 1980s] by the British government and US . . . then nothing has changed other than interests." He has worked as outreach director for the charitable organisation and advocacy group CAGE, (formerly 'Cageprisoners') to represent those detainees still held at Guantanamo, as well as to help those who have been released to get services and