Gita Sahgal born in Bombay, India, is a writer and journalist on issues of
feminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
,
fundamentalismFundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
, and
racismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, a director of prize-winning documentary films, and a
women's rightsWomen's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
and human rights activist.
She has been a co-founder and active member of women's organizations. She has also been head of
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's Gender Unit, and has opposed the oppression of women in particular by religious fundamentalists.
In February 2010 she was suspended by Amnesty as head of its Gender Unit after she was quoted by
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
in an article about Amnesty, criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with
Moazzam BeggMoazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, the director of a campaign group called
CageprisonersCageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
, whom she referred to as "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban". Amnesty responded that she was not suspended "for raising these issues internally." Among those who spoke up in her support was
Salman Rushdie, who said Amnesty and Begg "deserve our contempt". Begg said Sahgal's claims of his
jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
i connections and support for terrorism were "ridiculous", and that he didn't consider anyone a terrorist who had not been convicted of terrorism.
In April 2010, Amnesty said that due to irreconcilable differences of view Sahgal would leave Amnesty on 9 April.
Family, education, and early life
Sahgal is originally from India, and currently lives in England. She is the daughter of novelist
Nayantara SahgalNayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer in English. Her fiction deals with India's elite responding to the crises engendered by political change; she was one of the first female Indo-Anglian writers to receive wide recognition...
. She is also the great-niece of former Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, and the granddaughter of his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Schooled first in India, she then moved to England in 1972 and attended and graduated from London’s
School of Oriental and African StudiesThe School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
. When Sahgal returned to India in 1977, she joined the civil rights movement. She moved back to England in 1983. Born and raised in a
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
background, she currently describes herself as an atheist.
Activism
Women's organizations
She co-founded in 1979 and has been an active member of
Southall Black SistersSouthall Black Sisters is a non-profit All-Asian organisation based in Southall, West London, UK. This Asian-women's group was established in August 1979 in the aftermath of the death of anti-fascist activist Blair Peach, who had taken part in a demonstration against a National Front rally at...
. It is a non-profit organisation based in Southall, West London, that has worked against
domestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, racism (often that of some white feminists), sexism (often that of some Black and Asian anti-racist campaigners), and bigotry.
She also co-founded in 1989 and has actively participated with Women against Fundamentalism. It was formed to challenge the rise of fundamentalism in all religions. One of its positions has been that as a Christian country with an established church and
blasphemy lawBlasphemy law is law relating to blasphemy, or irreverence toward supposed holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs.In some countries, blasphemy is not a crime. In the United States of America, for example, a prosecution for blasphemy would violate the Constitution according to...
s that only protect Christianity, England encourages the growth of
sectarianismSectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
by excluding immigrants, leading them to gravitate towards religious fundamentalism.
Rape
In her early years in Delhi, India, Sahgal was part of a feminist network that fought against rape and
dowryA dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
laws.
Commenting on the use of
rape in warsWar rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service...
, Sahgal said in 2004 that it is a mistake to think such assaults are primarily about "spoils of war" or sexual gratification. She said rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for attackers to perpetuate social control and redraw ethnic boundaries. "Women are seen as the reproducers and carers of the community," she said.
Prostitution and peacekeeping efforts
Sahgal spoke out in 2004 with regard to the fact that prostitution and sex abuse crops up wherever
humanitarian interventionHumanitarian intervention "refers to a state using military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed."...
efforts are set up. She observed: "The issue with the UN is that peacekeeping operations unfortunately seem to be doing the same thing that other militaries do. Even the guardians have to be guarded."
Invasion of Iraq; Views on Guantanamo Bay
Sahgal, who was against the invasion of Iraq, also condemned the detention and what she views as torture of Muslim men at Guantanamo Bay. She told Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, that she is “horrified and appalled” by the treatment of people like him.
Writing and film producer
Among her various writings, in 1992, she contributed to and co-edited
Refusing Holy Orders: Women and Fundamentalism in Britain with Nira Yuval-Davis.
In 2002 she was the producer of "Tying the Knot". The film was commissioned by the U.K.'s
Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
's Community Liaison Unit, which was set up to handle the problem of British victims of
forced marriageForced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...
who have been, or may be, taken abroad to marry against their will. Sahgal said that while she was not against
arranged marriageAn arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
, she was against those that involve "pressure, emotional blackmail, the massive physical pressure of beatings and abduction". The educational video on marriage and freedom of choice was produced for use in schools, youth groups, and other organisations working with young people, examines marriage across various cultures, and was designed to promote discussion on the issues it raises.
She also made a film for
Despatches, one of British TV’s main investigative documentary programs, on the subject of
Kiranjit AhluwaliaKiranjit Ahluwalia is an Indian woman who came to international attention after burning her husband to death in 1989 in response to ten years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse...
, a
PunjabPunjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
i woman brought to the UK by
arranged marriageAn arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
who was abused by her husband, set him on fire when he was drunk and asleep—killing him, and won the subsequent legal battle for her freedom.
In addition, she has made a film about atrocities committed during the
Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
of 1971.
Sahgal quote and suspension
Sahgal joined Amnesty in 2002, and became head of its gender unit in 2003. She came to wide public attention in February 2010, when she was suspended by Amnesty International as head of the organisation's Gender Unit, after she was quoted by
The Sunday Times in an article about Amnesty, criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with
Moazzam BeggMoazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, the director of a campaign group called
CageprisonersCageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
.
She said:
To be appearing on platforms with Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban [Begg], whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.
Sahgal argued that by associating itself with Begg and Cageprisoners, Amnesty is risking its reputation on
human rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
. "As a former Guantanamo detainee, it was legitimate to hear his experiences, but as a supporter of the Taliban it was absolutely wrong to legitimise him as a partner,” Sahgal said. She said she had repeatedly tried raising the issue internally at Amnesty for two years, to no avail. Amnesty's Senior Director of Law and Policy, Widney Brown, said Sahgal raised concerns about Begg and Cageprisoners to her personally for the first time a few days before she shared them with the
Sunday Times.
Begg spent time at a
mujahideenMujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
training camp in Afghanistan in 1993, where the camp's leader told him: “To me
jihad is a drug I’m allowed to take and I always come back for more ... As long as Muslim lands [such as Kashmir and Israel] are occupied, I have vowed to fight for their liberation”. Begg wrote in 2006 that his time at the training camp:
was a life-changing experience for me.... I had met men who seemed to me exemplary in their faith and self-sacrifice, and seen a world that awed and inspired me.
In 2001, Taliban police in Afghanistan were beating women for improper dress, had fired all women in public service, had effectively abolished education for women, and were engaging in Friday stonings and amputations in applying
shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law. Begg wrote in his autobiography that in 2001 the Taliban had made "some modest progress—in social justice and upholding pure, old Islamic values forgotten in many Islamic countries". He also said that the Taliban was "better than anything Afghanistan has had in 20 years". Begg said later that it was his perception at the time, and that since then he has criticised the Taliban for human rights abuses. Cageprisoners has championed the rights of, among others,
al-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
member
Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
(linked to three of the 9/11 bombers, the
Fort Hood shooterNidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
, and the Christmas Day 2009 bomber),
Abu HamzaAbu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
, Sajid Badat, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and
Abu QatadaAbû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda...
.
Amnesty has brought Begg (representing Cageprisoners) to a meeting at
Downing StreetDowning Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
delivering a letter to U.K. Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
demanding the closure of Guantanamo Bay, hosted Begg on a European tour urging countries to offer safe haven to Guantanamo detainees, and paid expenses for his attendance at its events.
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
published an article about Amnesty's association with groups that support the Taliban and promote "Islamic Right" ideas on 7 February 2010. Sahgal spoke to the newspaper because she felt that for two years Amnesty had completely ignored her concerns on the subject.
Gita Sahgal , born in Bombay, India,
is a writer and journalist on issues of
feminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
,
fundamentalismFundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
, and
racismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, a director of prize-winning documentary films, and a
women's rightsWomen's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
and human rights activist.
She has been a co-founder and active member of women's organizations.
She has also been head of
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's Gender Unit, and has opposed the oppression of women in particular by religious fundamentalists.
In February 2010 she was suspended by Amnesty as head of its Gender Unit after she was quoted by
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
in an article about Amnesty, criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with
Moazzam BeggMoazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, the director of a campaign group called
CageprisonersCageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
, whom she referred to as "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban".
Amnesty responded that she was not suspended "for raising these issues internally." Among those who spoke up in her support was
Salman Rushdie, who said Amnesty and Begg "deserve our contempt". Begg said Sahgal's claims of his
jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
i connections and support for terrorism were "ridiculous", and that he didn't consider anyone a terrorist who had not been convicted of terrorism.
In April 2010, Amnesty said that due to irreconcilable differences of view Sahgal would leave Amnesty on 9 April.
Family, education, and early life
Sahgal is originally from India, and currently lives in England. She is the daughter of novelist
Nayantara SahgalNayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer in English. Her fiction deals with India's elite responding to the crises engendered by political change; she was one of the first female Indo-Anglian writers to receive wide recognition...
. She is also the great-niece of former Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, and the granddaughter of his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Schooled first in India, she then moved to England in 1972 and attended and graduated from London’s
School of Oriental and African StudiesThe School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
.
When Sahgal returned to India in 1977, she joined the civil rights movement.
She moved back to England in 1983. Born and raised in a
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
background, she currently describes herself as an atheist.
Activism
Women's organizations
She co-founded in 1979 and has been an active member of
Southall Black SistersSouthall Black Sisters is a non-profit All-Asian organisation based in Southall, West London, UK. This Asian-women's group was established in August 1979 in the aftermath of the death of anti-fascist activist Blair Peach, who had taken part in a demonstration against a National Front rally at...
. It is a non-profit organisation based in Southall, West London, that has worked against
domestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, racism (often that of some white feminists), sexism (often that of some Black and Asian anti-racist campaigners), and bigotry.
She also co-founded in 1989 and has actively participated with Women against Fundamentalism.
It was formed to challenge the rise of fundamentalism in all religions.
One of its positions has been that as a Christian country with an established church and
blasphemy lawBlasphemy law is law relating to blasphemy, or irreverence toward supposed holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs.In some countries, blasphemy is not a crime. In the United States of America, for example, a prosecution for blasphemy would violate the Constitution according to...
s that only protect Christianity, England encourages the growth of
sectarianismSectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
by excluding immigrants, leading them to gravitate towards religious fundamentalism.
Rape
In her early years in Delhi, India, Sahgal was part of a feminist network that fought against rape and
dowryA dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
laws.
Commenting on the use of
rape in warsWar rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service...
, Sahgal said in 2004 that it is a mistake to think such assaults are primarily about "spoils of war" or sexual gratification. She said rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for attackers to perpetuate social control and redraw ethnic boundaries. "Women are seen as the reproducers and carers of the community," she said.
Prostitution and peacekeeping efforts
Sahgal spoke out in 2004 with regard to the fact that prostitution and sex abuse crops up wherever
humanitarian interventionHumanitarian intervention "refers to a state using military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed."...
efforts are set up. She observed: "The issue with the UN is that peacekeeping operations unfortunately seem to be doing the same thing that other militaries do. Even the guardians have to be guarded."
Invasion of Iraq; Views on Guantanamo Bay
Sahgal, who was against the invasion of Iraq, also condemned the detention and what she views as torture of Muslim men at Guantanamo Bay.
She told Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, that she is “horrified and appalled” by the treatment of people like him.
Writing and film producer
Among her various writings, in 1992, she contributed to and co-edited
Refusing Holy Orders: Women and Fundamentalism in Britain with Nira Yuval-Davis.
In 2002 she was the producer of "Tying the Knot". The film was commissioned by the U.K.'s
Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
's Community Liaison Unit, which was set up to handle the problem of British victims of
forced marriageForced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...
who have been, or may be, taken abroad to marry against their will. Sahgal said that while she was not against
arranged marriageAn arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
, she was against those that involve "pressure, emotional blackmail, the massive physical pressure of beatings and abduction". The educational video on marriage and freedom of choice was produced for use in schools, youth groups, and other organisations working with young people, examines marriage across various cultures, and was designed to promote discussion on the issues it raises.
She also made a film for
Despatches, one of British TV’s main investigative documentary programs, on the subject of
Kiranjit AhluwaliaKiranjit Ahluwalia is an Indian woman who came to international attention after burning her husband to death in 1989 in response to ten years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse...
, a
PunjabPunjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
i woman brought to the UK by
arranged marriageAn arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
who was abused by her husband, set him on fire when he was drunk and asleep—killing him, and won the subsequent legal battle for her freedom.
In addition, she has made a film about atrocities committed during the
Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
of 1971.
Sahgal quote and suspension
Sahgal joined Amnesty in 2002, and became head of its gender unit in 2003.
She came to wide public attention in February 2010, when she was suspended by Amnesty International as head of the organisation's Gender Unit, after she was quoted by
The Sunday Times in an article about Amnesty, criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with
Moazzam BeggMoazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, the director of a campaign group called
CageprisonersCageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
.
She said:
To be appearing on platforms with Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban [Begg], whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.
Sahgal argued that by associating itself with Begg and Cageprisoners, Amnesty is risking its reputation on
human rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
"As a former Guantanamo detainee, it was legitimate to hear his experiences, but as a supporter of the Taliban it was absolutely wrong to legitimise him as a partner,” Sahgal said.
She said she had repeatedly tried raising the issue internally at Amnesty for two years, to no avail.
Amnesty's Senior Director of Law and Policy, Widney Brown, said Sahgal raised concerns about Begg and Cageprisoners to her personally for the first time a few days before she shared them with the
Sunday Times.
Begg spent time at a
mujahideenMujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
training camp in Afghanistan in 1993, where the camp's leader told him: “To me
jihad is a drug I’m allowed to take and I always come back for more ... As long as Muslim lands [such as Kashmir and Israel] are occupied, I have vowed to fight for their liberation”.
Begg wrote in 2006 that his time at the training camp:
was a life-changing experience for me.... I had met men who seemed to me exemplary in their faith and self-sacrifice, and seen a world that awed and inspired me.
In 2001, Taliban police in Afghanistan were beating women for improper dress, had fired all women in public service, had effectively abolished education for women, and were engaging in Friday stonings and amputations in applying
shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law.
Begg wrote in his autobiography that in 2001 the Taliban had made "some modest progress—in social justice and upholding pure, old Islamic values forgotten in many Islamic countries".
He also said that the Taliban was "better than anything Afghanistan has had in 20 years".
Begg said later that it was his perception at the time, and that since then he has criticised the Taliban for human rights abuses.
Cageprisoners has championed the rights of, among others,
al-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
member
Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
(linked to three of the 9/11 bombers, the
Fort Hood shooterNidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
, and the Christmas Day 2009 bomber),
Abu HamzaAbu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
, Sajid Badat, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and
Abu QatadaAbû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda...
.
Amnesty has brought Begg (representing Cageprisoners) to a meeting at
Downing StreetDowning Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
delivering a letter to U.K. Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
demanding the closure of Guantanamo Bay, hosted Begg on a European tour urging countries to offer safe haven to Guantanamo detainees, and paid expenses for his attendance at its events.
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
published an article about Amnesty's association with groups that support the Taliban and promote "Islamic Right" ideas on 7 February 2010.
Sahgal spoke to the newspaper because she felt that for two years Amnesty had completely ignored her concerns on the subject.
Gita Sahgal , born in Bombay, India,
is a writer and journalist on issues of
feminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
,
fundamentalismFundamentalism is strict adherence to specific theological doctrines usually understood as a reaction against Modernist theology. The term "fundamentalism" was originally coined by its supporters to describe a specific package of theological beliefs that developed into a movement within the...
, and
racismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, a director of prize-winning documentary films, and a
women's rightsWomen's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
and human rights activist.
She has been a co-founder and active member of women's organizations.
She has also been head of
Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
's Gender Unit, and has opposed the oppression of women in particular by religious fundamentalists.
In February 2010 she was suspended by Amnesty as head of its Gender Unit after she was quoted by
The Sunday TimesThe Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
in an article about Amnesty, criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with
Moazzam BeggMoazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, the director of a campaign group called
CageprisonersCageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
, whom she referred to as "Britain's most famous supporter of the Taliban".
Amnesty responded that she was not suspended "for raising these issues internally." Among those who spoke up in her support was
Salman Rushdie, who said Amnesty and Begg "deserve our contempt". Begg said Sahgal's claims of his
jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
i connections and support for terrorism were "ridiculous", and that he didn't consider anyone a terrorist who had not been convicted of terrorism.
In April 2010, Amnesty said that due to irreconcilable differences of view Sahgal would leave Amnesty on 9 April.
Family, education, and early life
Sahgal is originally from India, and currently lives in England. She is the daughter of novelist
Nayantara SahgalNayantara Sahgal is an Indian writer in English. Her fiction deals with India's elite responding to the crises engendered by political change; she was one of the first female Indo-Anglian writers to receive wide recognition...
. She is also the great-niece of former Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
, and the granddaughter of his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit. Schooled first in India, she then moved to England in 1972 and attended and graduated from London’s
School of Oriental and African StudiesThe School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...
.
When Sahgal returned to India in 1977, she joined the civil rights movement.
She moved back to England in 1983. Born and raised in a
HinduHindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
background, she currently describes herself as an atheist.
Activism
Women's organizations
She co-founded in 1979 and has been an active member of
Southall Black SistersSouthall Black Sisters is a non-profit All-Asian organisation based in Southall, West London, UK. This Asian-women's group was established in August 1979 in the aftermath of the death of anti-fascist activist Blair Peach, who had taken part in a demonstration against a National Front rally at...
. It is a non-profit organisation based in Southall, West London, that has worked against
domestic violenceDomestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
, racism (often that of some white feminists), sexism (often that of some Black and Asian anti-racist campaigners), and bigotry.
She also co-founded in 1989 and has actively participated with Women against Fundamentalism.
It was formed to challenge the rise of fundamentalism in all religions.
One of its positions has been that as a Christian country with an established church and
blasphemy lawBlasphemy law is law relating to blasphemy, or irreverence toward supposed holy personages, religious artifacts, customs, and beliefs.In some countries, blasphemy is not a crime. In the United States of America, for example, a prosecution for blasphemy would violate the Constitution according to...
s that only protect Christianity, England encourages the growth of
sectarianismSectarianism, according to one definition, is bigotry, discrimination or hatred arising from attaching importance to perceived differences between subdivisions within a group, such as between different denominations of a religion, class, regional or factions of a political movement.The ideological...
by excluding immigrants, leading them to gravitate towards religious fundamentalism.
Rape
In her early years in Delhi, India, Sahgal was part of a feminist network that fought against rape and
dowryA dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...
laws.
Commenting on the use of
rape in warsWar rapes are rapes committed by soldiers, other combatants or civilians during armed conflict or war, or during military occupation, distinguished from sexual assaults and rape committed amongst troops in military service...
, Sahgal said in 2004 that it is a mistake to think such assaults are primarily about "spoils of war" or sexual gratification. She said rape is often used in ethnic conflicts as a way for attackers to perpetuate social control and redraw ethnic boundaries. "Women are seen as the reproducers and carers of the community," she said.
Prostitution and peacekeeping efforts
Sahgal spoke out in 2004 with regard to the fact that prostitution and sex abuse crops up wherever
humanitarian interventionHumanitarian intervention "refers to a state using military force against another state when the chief publicly declared aim of that military action is ending human-rights violations being perpetrated by the state against which it is directed."...
efforts are set up. She observed: "The issue with the UN is that peacekeeping operations unfortunately seem to be doing the same thing that other militaries do. Even the guardians have to be guarded."
Invasion of Iraq; Views on Guantanamo Bay
Sahgal, who was against the invasion of Iraq, also condemned the detention and what she views as torture of Muslim men at Guantanamo Bay.
She told Moazzam Begg, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, that she is “horrified and appalled” by the treatment of people like him.
Writing and film producer
Among her various writings, in 1992, she contributed to and co-edited
Refusing Holy Orders: Women and Fundamentalism in Britain with Nira Yuval-Davis.
In 2002 she was the producer of "Tying the Knot". The film was commissioned by the U.K.'s
Foreign and Commonwealth OfficeThe Foreign and Commonwealth Office, commonly called the Foreign Office or the FCO is a British government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom overseas, created in 1968 by merging the Foreign Office and the Commonwealth Office.The head of the FCO is the...
's Community Liaison Unit, which was set up to handle the problem of British victims of
forced marriageForced marriage is a term used to describe a marriage in which one or both of the parties is married without his or her consent or against his or her will...
who have been, or may be, taken abroad to marry against their will. Sahgal said that while she was not against
arranged marriageAn arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
, she was against those that involve "pressure, emotional blackmail, the massive physical pressure of beatings and abduction". The educational video on marriage and freedom of choice was produced for use in schools, youth groups, and other organisations working with young people, examines marriage across various cultures, and was designed to promote discussion on the issues it raises.
She also made a film for
Despatches, one of British TV’s main investigative documentary programs, on the subject of
Kiranjit AhluwaliaKiranjit Ahluwalia is an Indian woman who came to international attention after burning her husband to death in 1989 in response to ten years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse...
, a
PunjabPunjab ) is a state in the northwest of the Republic of India, forming part of the larger Punjab region. The state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast and Rajasthan to the southwest as well as the Pakistani province of Punjab to the...
i woman brought to the UK by
arranged marriageAn arranged marriage is a practice in which someone other than the couple getting married makes the selection of the persons to be wed, meanwhile curtailing or avoiding the process of courtship. Such marriages had deep roots in royal and aristocratic families around the world...
who was abused by her husband, set him on fire when he was drunk and asleep—killing him, and won the subsequent legal battle for her freedom.
In addition, she has made a film about atrocities committed during the
Bangladesh Liberation WarThe Bangladesh Liberation War was an armed conflict pitting East Pakistan and India against West Pakistan. The war resulted in the secession of East Pakistan, which became the independent nation of Bangladesh....
of 1971.
Sahgal quote and suspension
Sahgal joined Amnesty in 2002, and became head of its gender unit in 2003.
She came to wide public attention in February 2010, when she was suspended by Amnesty International as head of the organisation's Gender Unit, after she was quoted by
The Sunday Times in an article about Amnesty, criticizing Amnesty for its high-profile associations with
Moazzam BeggMoazzam Begg , is a British Pakistani Muslim who was held in extrajudicial detention in the Bagram Theater Internment Facility and the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, in Cuba, by the U.S...
, the director of a campaign group called
CageprisonersCageprisoners Ltd is a London-based human rights organization with an Islamic focus, whose stated aim is "to raise awareness of the plight of the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and other detainees held as part of the War on Terror." It campaigns on behalf of Muslim prisoners, including convicted...
.
She said:
To be appearing on platforms with Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban [Begg], whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.
Sahgal argued that by associating itself with Begg and Cageprisoners, Amnesty is risking its reputation on
human rightsHuman rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
.
"As a former Guantanamo detainee, it was legitimate to hear his experiences, but as a supporter of the Taliban it was absolutely wrong to legitimise him as a partner,” Sahgal said.
She said she had repeatedly tried raising the issue internally at Amnesty for two years, to no avail.
Amnesty's Senior Director of Law and Policy, Widney Brown, said Sahgal raised concerns about Begg and Cageprisoners to her personally for the first time a few days before she shared them with the
Sunday Times.
Begg spent time at a
mujahideenMujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
training camp in Afghanistan in 1993, where the camp's leader told him: “To me
jihad is a drug I’m allowed to take and I always come back for more ... As long as Muslim lands [such as Kashmir and Israel] are occupied, I have vowed to fight for their liberation”.
Begg wrote in 2006 that his time at the training camp:
was a life-changing experience for me.... I had met men who seemed to me exemplary in their faith and self-sacrifice, and seen a world that awed and inspired me.
In 2001, Taliban police in Afghanistan were beating women for improper dress, had fired all women in public service, had effectively abolished education for women, and were engaging in Friday stonings and amputations in applying
shariaSharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law.
Begg wrote in his autobiography that in 2001 the Taliban had made "some modest progress—in social justice and upholding pure, old Islamic values forgotten in many Islamic countries".
He also said that the Taliban was "better than anything Afghanistan has had in 20 years".
Begg said later that it was his perception at the time, and that since then he has criticised the Taliban for human rights abuses.
Cageprisoners has championed the rights of, among others,
al-QaedaAl-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...
member
Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
(linked to three of the 9/11 bombers, the
Fort Hood shooterNidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
, and the Christmas Day 2009 bomber),
Abu HamzaAbu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
, Sajid Badat, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and
Abu QatadaAbû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda...
.
Amnesty has brought Begg (representing Cageprisoners) to a meeting at
Downing StreetDowning Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
delivering a letter to U.K. Prime Minister
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
demanding the closure of Guantanamo Bay, hosted Begg on a European tour urging countries to offer safe haven to Guantanamo detainees, and paid expenses for his attendance at its events.
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
published an article about Amnesty's association with groups that support the Taliban and promote "Islamic Right" ideas on 7 February 2010.
Sahgal spoke to the newspaper because she felt that for two years Amnesty had completely ignored her concerns on the subject.
Sahgal's views on Amnesty's high-profile associations with Begg and Cageprisoners were quoted.
Within a few hours of the article being published, Amnesty suspended her.
Sahgal statements
Sahgal issued a statement in which she explained further that she felt that Amnesty was risking its reputation by associating with and thereby politically legitimizing Begg, because Cageprisoners "actively promotes Islamic Right ideas and individuals".
She headed off the argument that the issue was Begg's rights, by saying she has always opposed the illegal detention and torture of Muslim men, and been "horrified and appalled" by the treatment of people like Begg. But that the issue is not about Begg’s "freedom of opinion, nor about his right to propound his views: he already exercises these rights fully as he should. The issue is ... the importance of the human rights movement maintaining an objective distance from groups and ideas that are committed to systematic discrimination and fundamentally undermine the universality of human rights."
Her statement also said in part:
- A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when a great organisation must ask: if it lies to itself, can it demand the truth of others? ... Amnesty ... has sanitized the history and politics of ... Begg and completely failed to recognize the nature of ... Cageprisoners....
- I sent two memos to my management asking a series of questions about what considerations were given to the nature of the relationship with ... Begg and ... Cageprisoners. I have received no answer.... Amnesty has created the impression that Begg is not only a victim of human rights violations, but a defender of human rights....
- I have been a human rights campaigner for over three decades, defending the rights of women and ethnic minorities, defending religious freedom and the rights of victims of torture, and campaigning against illegal detention and state repression. I have raised the issue of the association of Amnesty International with groups such as Begg’s consistently within the organisation. I have now been suspended for trying to do my job and staying faithful to Amnesty’s mission to protect and defend human rights universally and impartially.
On 27 February, she said in an interview on National Public Radio (NPR) that Amnesty had provided Begg with a platform and legitimized him as a human rights defender, while Cageprisoners promotes people who in turn promote "a violent and discriminatory agenda".
She also said that Cageprisoners' Asim Qureshi spoke supporting global
jihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
at a
Hizb ut-TahrirHizb ut-Tahrir is an international Sunni. pan-Islamic political organisation but keeps it open for all including shias,some of its beliefs are against sunni school of thought, whose goal is for all Muslim countries to unify as an Islamic state or caliphate ruled by Islamic law and with a caliph...
rally.
And she noted that Begg had run a bookshop, a bestseller of which was a book by
jihad-promotor Abdullah Azzam—a mentor of
Osama bin LadenOsama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, and a founder of
Lashkar-e-TaibaLashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
, which has attacked civilians and been implicated in the
2008 Mumbai attacksThe 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
.
In a separate interview, she pointed as well to Begg having attended
jihadi training camps and sold books and videos promoting global
jihad and terrorist attacks, to Quereshi having affirmed his support for global
jihad on a
BBC World ServiceThe BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
programme, and said that "these things could have been stated in his introduction". She stressed that Begg's bookshop published
The Army Of Madinah, a
jihad manual by
Dhiren BarotDhiren Barot is a convicted terrorist from the United Kingdom.-Background:...
"perhaps Britain’s most important connection to the al-Qaeda leadership, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder and is serving a life sentence in prison, without parole".
Amnesty responses
Amnesty responded on its website with a statement by its interim Secretary General, Claudio Cordone:
[Sahgal] was not suspended ... for raising these issues internally... [Begg] speaks about his own views ..., not Amnesty International’s... Sometimes the people whose rights we defend may not share each others views–but they all have human rights, and all human rights are worth defending.
Cordone said on a Canadian radio program that he thought Begg's politics are benign, and that so far there was not any evidence to suggest that Amnesty should cut its ties with him.
Responding to a petition in support of Sahgal from
Sunila AbeysekeraSunila Abeysekera is an award winning human rights campaigner. She was born in 1952 in Sri Lanka and has worked on women's rights and human rights issues in Sri Lanka and in the South Asia region for over 20 years as an activist and scholar. In 1994 she received an M.A...
(a veteran Sri Lankan human rights campaigner), Amrita Chhachhi (a senior lecturer in women’s and gender studies at the
Institute of Social StudiesThe International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Hague is a unique, independent and international graduate school in the social sciences...
in The Hague), and Sara Hossain (a Bangladesh Supreme Court advocate), Cordone wrote: "Begg and others in his group Cageprisoners also hold other views which they have clearly stated, for example on ... the role of
jihad in
self-defenseSelf-defense, self-defence or private defense is a countermeasure that involves defending oneself, one's property or the well-being of another from physical harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in times of danger is available in many...
. Are such views antithetical to human rights? Our answer is no, even if we may disagree with them."
Abeysekera, Chhachhi, and Hossain called Cordone's assertion "shocking".
Widney Brown also spoke on the NPR program.
She said the fact that Begg's bookstore sold "books that undermine women's rights ... books that you don't like" shouldn't undermine him as a legitimate voice on Guantanamo Bay abuses.
Responding to the observation that Amnesty had sponsored his tours through Europe, which might be seen as more than just hearing his views, she said that because Begg was one of the first detainees released, he was able able to dispel Guantanamo Bay's secrecy.
She added that, as a British citizen, Begg has "an incredibly effective voice in talking to governments in Europe about the importance of" their accepting Guantanamo detainees.
As to the praiseworthiness of Sahgal's work, she said:
There's no question about it. Gita is incredibly intelligent, very strong analysis .... She's done great work for us. And I think the real tragedy of this particular circumstance is by going public in this particular way knowing that we were addressing her issue means that she's maybe undermining her own work in fact.
Responding to criticism from Salman Rushdie, Kate Allen, director of Amnesty UK, said it took criticism “seriously” but would continue to seek “universal respect” for human rights. Amnesty’s international secretariat Policy Director, Anne Fitzgerald, when asked if she thought Begg was a human rights advocate, said: “It’s something you’d have to speak to him about. I don’t have the information to answer that.”
In April 2010, Amnesty circulated a statement internally, saying:
Due to irreconcilable differences of view over policy between Gita Sahgal and Amnesty International regarding Amnesty International’s relationship with Moazzam Begg and Cageprisoners, it has been agreed that Gita will leave Amnesty International on 9 April 2010.
Gita ... was in a period of consultation over possible redeployment following a redundancy process. Accordingly, Gita will leave receiving a payment based on Amnesty International’s redundancy policy.
Begg response
Begg said Sahgal's claims of
jihadi connections and support for terrorism were "ridiculous."
He defended his support for the Taliban, saying: “We need to be engaging with those people who we find most unpalatable. I don’t consider anybody a terrorist until they have been charged and convicted of terrorism.”
Begg also points to his work with groups that empower Muslim women; such as HHUGS (Helping Households Under Great Stress), which supports the families of detainees, and an Iraqi women's refugee group.
Sahgal, he says, "has no monopoly on women's rights".
Reactions
Pro-Sahgal
Salman Rushdie, who was championed by Amnesty after Iran placed a
fatwāA fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...
on him for writing
The Satanic VersesThe Satanic Verses is Salman Rushdie's fourth novel, first published in 1988 and inspired in part by the life of Prophet Muhammad. As with his previous books, Rushdie used magical realism and relied on contemporary events and people to create his characters...
, said:
Amnesty ... has done its reputation incalculable damage by allying itself with Moazzam Begg and his group Cageprisoners, and holding them up as human rights advocates. It looks very much as if Amnesty's leadership is suffering from a kind of moral bankruptcyMoral bankruptcy is a synonym for immorality that has gained popular usage in the fields of business and politics, in which it specifically implies some instance of political corruption or corporate crime...
, and has lost the ability to distinguish right from wrong. It has greatly compounded its error by suspending the redoubtable Gita Sahgal for the crime of going public with her concerns. Gita Sahgal is a woman of immense integrity and distinction.... It is people like Gita Sahgal who are the true voices of the human rights movement; Amnesty and Begg have revealed, by their statements and actions, that they deserve our contempt.
Denis MacShaneDenis MacShane is a British politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Rotherham since the 1994 by-election and served as the Minister for Europe from 2002 until 2005, as well as being a current Policy Council member for Labour Friends of Israel.On 14 October 2010, it was announced...
, a Member of the British Parliament and former Labour government minister, wrote to Amnesty protesting its suspension of Gita Sahgal: "one of its most respected researchers because she rightly called into question Amnesty’s endorsement of Mozzam Begg whose views on the Taliban and on Islamist jihad stand in total contradiction of everything Amnesty has fought for."
He called "Kafkaesque" the fact that Amnesty—"the very organisation meant to defend human rights"—would threaten the career of Sahgal for her having exposed "an ideology that denies human rights".
Writing in The
National PostThe National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
, writer
Christopher HitchensChristopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...
said "It's well-nigh incredible that Amnesty should give a platform to people who are shady on this question and absolutely disgraceful that it should suspend a renowned employee who gave voice to her deep and sincere misgivings," writing in
The IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, journalist and human rights activist Joan Smith said "Amnesty's mistake is simple and egregious", and writing in
The SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
journalist
Martin BrightMartin Bright is a British journalist. He worked for the BBC World Service and The Guardian before becoming The Observer's education correspondent and then home affairs editor...
said: "It is Gita Sahgal who should be the darling of the human rights establishment, not Moazzam Begg," and columnist
Melanie PhillipsMelanie Phillips is a British journalist and author. She began her career on the left of the political spectrum, writing for such publications as The Guardian and New Statesman. In the 1990s she moved to the right, and she now writes for the Daily Mail newspaper, covering political and social...
wrote "her real crime has been to expose the extraordinary sympathy by white ‘liberals’, committed to ‘human rights’, for Islamic jihadists—who are committed to the extinction of human rights."
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
(not connected to
The Sunday Times) wrote: "In an extraordinary inversion of its traditional role, Amnesty has stifled its own still small voice of conscience," and journalist
Nick CohenNick Cohen is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He is currently a columnist for The Observer, a blogger for The Spectator and TV critic for Standpoint magazine. He formerly wrote for the London Evening Standard and the New Statesman...
wrote in
The ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
"Amnesty is living in the make-believe world ... where it thinks that liberals are free to form alliances with defenders of clerical fascists who want to do everything in their power to suppress liberals, most notably liberal-minded Muslims." Writer Michael Weiss opined in
The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
that Sahgal had correctly characterized Begg, whom Weiss said has written favorably about the Taliban, and journalist
Antara Dev Sen-Biography:Antara Dev Sen was born on September 21, 1963 in Cambridge, England, the first daughter of Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen and novelist Nabaneeta Dev Sen. Antara did her schooling in Calcutta and higher education in Delhi, India. Sen also studied at Smith College in ...
wrote in
Daily News & Analysis: "It was a gutsy stand, given the dread of political correctness that cripples our thought and makes us bend over backwards till we almost topple over. ... Suspending Sahgal was an illiberal knee-jerk response unbecoming of this cherished human rights organisation."
Farrukh Dhondy is a British writer, playwright and activist of Indian Parsi descent.-Education:Dhondy obtained a BSc degree from University of Poona in India before winning a scholarship to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1964 where he read Natural Sciences before switching to English...
wrote in her support, in
The Asian Age, as did
The Herald (Scotland), columnist and author
Mona CharenMona Charen is an American columnist, political analyst, and the author of two best-selling books, Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First and Do-Gooders: How Liberals Harm Those They Claim to Help — and the Rest of Us . Her political stance is...
in Australia's
The Daily Advertiser, commentator Jonathan Power in Dubai's
Khaleej TimesThe Khaleej Times is a daily English language newspaper published in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Traditionally perceived as the second most popular newspaper in the UAE, Khaleej Times has struggled to keep up its circulation and entered 2011 with a print run of just under 40,000 copies...
, journalist and author
Terry GlavinTerry Glavin is a Canadian author and journalist.Born in the United Kingdom to Irish parents, he emigrated to Canada in 1957. Glavin has worked as a journalist and columnist for The Daily Columbian, The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, and The Georgia Straight...
in the
National Post, columnist
Rod LiddleRoderick E. L. Liddle is an English print, radio, and television journalist.He is an associate editor of The Spectator, and former editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he is the author of Too Beautiful for You , Love Will Destroy Everything , and co-author of The Best of Liddle Britain...
in
The Spectator, columnist
Jay NordlingerJay Nordlinger is an American journalist. He is a senior editor of National Review, the conservative magazine founded by William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. He also writes a column for the magazine’s website, "National...
in
National ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
, and
David AaronovitchDavid Aaronovitch is a British author, broadcaster, and journalist. He is a regular columnist for The Times, and author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country and Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History...
in a column in
The TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
entitled "How Amnesty Chose the Wrong Poster-boy".
Feminist historian
Urvashi ButaliaUrvashi Butalia is an Indian feminist and historian. She is the Director and Co-founder of Kali for Women, India's first feminist publishing house....
also spoke up in her support.
Douglas Murray is a British writer and commentator who was the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion from 2007 until 2011 and is currently an associate director of the Henry Jackson Society. Murray appears regularly in the British broadcast media, commentating on issues from a conservative...
wrote in
The Telegraph that "Amnesty is longer an organisation worth listening to, let alone supporting", and
The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
wrote: "it's a pity that a group that was born to give voice to the victims of oppression should now devote itself to sanitizing the oppressors".
Sahgal's mother, Nehru’s niece novelist Nayantara Sahgal, said she was proud of Gita:
for her very correct and courageous stand. Gita had been taking up the matter for a couple of years now, but after not having received a response she decided to go public—which was a very brave thing to do.... Amnesty has been supporting Begg, legitimising him, making him a partner and sponsoring his tour of Europe. They should at least have checked his credentials. It simply gives them a bad reputation.
An organization called Human rights for All formed in her defense. They have been joined by many notable supporters.
The ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
wrote in April 2010 that Amnesty had faced few sticker periods since it was founded in 1961, and Oliver Kamm wrote in
The Times that "Disastrously for itself and those who depend on its support, Amnesty is no longer the friend of liberty".
Mixed
Leaked extracts from an internal 10 February 2010, memo by Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific director Sam Zarifi, which echoed some of the concerns raised by Sahgal, were published by
The Sunday Times. In the memo he said Amnesty should publicly admit its mistake in not establishing sufficiently publicly that it does not support all or even many of Begg's views. Zarifi said Amnesty "did not always sufficiently distinguish between the rights of detainees to be free from torture, and the validity of their views", adding that the organization "did not always clarify that while we champion the rights of all—including terrorism suspects, and more important, victims of terrorism—we do not champion their views”. In a subsequent letter to
The Sunday Times, while Zarifi did not retract any of the above, he said he fully agreed with the measures Amnesty took in response to Sahgal sharing her views publicly.
In response to Zarifi's objections, Amnesty decided not to use Begg in its South Asia work.
Widney Brown said: "Sam's view was that, no, he was not the right person for [our South Asia campaigns]. He raised the concern, and he was heard."
Pro-Begg
British journalist for
Press TVPress TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....
, the Iranian-based English language news channel, and Cageprisoners patron,
Yvonne RidleyYvonne Ridley is a British journalist, war correspondent and Respect Party activist best known for her capture by the Taliban and subsequent conversion to Islam after release, her outspoken opposition to Zionism, and her criticism of Western media portrayals of the War on Terror...
, said Begg was being “demonised”, and that he was “a great supporter of women and a promoter of their rights”.
Former writer for
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, and co-author of
Enemy CombatantEnemy Combatant is the title of a book written by a British Muslim, Moazzam Begg, and co-written by Victoria Brittain, a former Associate Foreign Editor for the Guardian newspaper, about Begg's detention by the government of the United States of America in Camp Echo, Guantanamo Bay...
, Victoria Brittain wrote, "Ms Sahgal has contributed to the current climate of intolerance and islamophobia in Britain."
Andy WorthingtonAndy Worthington is a British historian, journalist, and film director.He has published three books, and been published in numerous publications.In 2009 Worthington was the co-director of a documentary about the Guantanamo detainees....
, critic of Guantanamo Bay detention camp, and friend of Moazzam Begg, also cited Islamophobia, and then defended Begg. He said, "I know from personal experience that Moazzam Begg is no extremist. We have met on numerous occasions, have had several long discussions, and have shared platforms together at many events."
Book
- Refusing holy orders: women and fundamentalism in Britain, co-editor with Nira Yuval-Davis, and contributor, Virago Press
Virago is a British publishing company founded in 1973 by Carmen Callil to publish books by women writers. Both new works and reissued books by neglected authors have featured on the imprint's list....
(1992), WLUML (2002), ISBN 1-85381-219-6
Chapters
- Looking at class: film, television and the working class in Britain, Sheila Rowbotham, Huw Beynon, "Chapter: Struggle Not Submission", Rivers Oram Press, 2001, ISBN 1-85489-121-9
- Feminist postcolonial theory: a reader, Reina Lewis, Sara Mills, Chapter: "The Uses of Fundamentalism", with Nira Yuval-Davis, Taylor & Francis, 2003, ISBN 0-415-94275-6
- The situated politics of belonging, Nira Yuval-Davis, Kalpana Kannabirān, Ulrike Vieten, "Chapter: Legislating Utopia? Violence Against Women: Identities and Interventions," SAGE, 2006, ISBN Ch1412921015
External links