Criticism : Home Secretary Theresa May ( pictured at the House of Commons yesterday ) launched a blistering attack on the human rights group Cage . Theresa May last night launched a blistering attack on the human rights group Cage , saying no excuses could be made for the appalling crimes of Islamic State . In a statement to the Commons , the Home Secretary said : ‘ I condemn anyone who attempts to excuse that barbarism in the way that has been done by Cage. ’ Politicians have queued up to denounce the group ’ s research director Asim Qureshi , who has described IS killer Mohammed Emwazi as a ‘ beautiful young man ’ and accused the security services of radicalising him . Jacqui Smith , a Labour former Home Secretary , said yesterday : ‘ We can – and should – dismiss the outrageous apologists of Cage who claimed that Emwazi was just a good lad radicalised by the actions of western authorities. ’ The backlash continued with Amnesty International coming under pressure to cut its ties with Cage . A former employee urged the charity to stop treating the group as human rights defenders and heroes . Gita Sahgal , a former head of Amnesty International ’ s gender unit , was forced out of the organisation in 2010 after describing Cage as jihadis and questioning the championing of former Guantanamo inmates . Controversial group : Cage research director Asim Qureshi ( left ) speaks next to political activist John Rees ( centre ) and Cage spokesman Cerie Bullivant ( right ) during a press conference in London last Thursday . ‘ Immense damage has been done to Amnesty , not least because they won ’ t come clean about their association with Cage , ’ she told the BBC . ‘ They say various things like , they don ’ t work with them , they have never worked with them , or they are in a loose coalition with them . ‘ But the point is , whether they are in a tight embrace or a loose coalition , they have taken their research from them , they have shared logos with them , they have produced briefing papers together , they have signed letters to the Government together , that is working with the organisation. ’ She described Cage ’ s current director , former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg , as ‘ Britain ’ s most famous supporter of the Taliban ’ . Jihadi John : Politicians have queued up to denounce Mr Qureshi , who has described Islamic State killer Mohammed Emwazi ( above ) as a ‘ beautiful young man ’ and accused the security services of radicalising him . Miss Sahgal said she had never argued Guantanamo prisoners ‘ shouldn ’ t be defended ’ , but that they ‘ shouldn ’ t be treated as heroes and human rights defenders ’ . Unimpressed : Jacqui Smith , a Labour former Home Secretary , called Cage 'outrageous apologists ' She added : ‘ The prisoners they were defending in this case were not prisoners of conscience ... what they did was create a narrative of innocence around them. ’ Steve Crawshaw , of the office of the secretary general at Amnesty , admitted yesterday it was ‘ highly unlikely ’ they would work with Cage again . Asked if Amnesty had played to a ‘ myth ’ of victimisation , Mr Crawshaw added : ‘ I don ’ t think we have played to anybody ’ s myth . I can ’ t condemn strongly enough anybody , in any context who seeks to find some justification somehow for how they can justify killing civilians . ‘ Our colleagues there ( in Iraq ) are risking lives in order to document the terrible crimes of IS and therefore to hear somehow that we are turning away from those things , I do think is quite extraordinary. ’ Amnesty International was forced yesterday to admit that it worked alongside Cage as recently as October . With Liberty , Justice and five other mainstream human rights groups , it joined with Cage in a ‘ collective ’ to make representations to an inquiry into the treatment of British Army detainees . Cage ’ s current director : Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg ( pictured ) has been described as ‘ Britain ’ s most famous supporter of the Taliban ’ by the former head of Amnesty International ’ s gender unit . Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said yesterday : ‘ Amnesty has no formal or financial relationship with Cage . ‘ Amnesty has , along with a number of others human rights organisations , worked on issues relating to Guantanamo and torture . ‘ This has included being co-signatories on letters calling for an independent , judge-led inquiry into UK complicity in torture . We support the call for a torture inquiry . We do not support all of Cage ’ s views or agree with how it expresses them. ’ Charities have been urged to stop funding Cage with politicians saying the organisation has acted reprehensibly in blaming British security services for the radicalisation of Emwazi .
Home Secretary 'condemns anyone who attempts to excuse barbarism ' Human right group Cage ’ s research director Asim Qureshi is denounced . He described 'Jihadi John ' Mohammed Emwazi as 'beautiful young man ’ Jacqui Smith says Iraq should 'dismiss outrageous apologists of Cage ' Amnesty International under pressure to cut its ties with organisation .