• Cage Managing Director and four other charity workers were arrested for showing solidarity with a Pro-Palestine supporter.
• After arrest they were detained at a local police station, where Moazzam Begg arrived to protest the police’s meaningless and heavy-handed need to arrest.
CAGE International workers including Managing Director Muhammad Rabbani and Operations Director Azad Ali were arrested for holding placards of coconuts.
The placards carried the faces of Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak placed on coconuts to describe a term South Asians use within their communities.
However the police, which consisted of an all-white ensemble deemed the signs to be committing an offence.
CAGE International workers brought along the placards in support of another protestor – Marieha Hussain, who was set to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court after being charged for originally protesting with Sunak and Braverman using coconuts back in November ‘23.
Though she was not arrested at the Pro-Palestine March, she received a ‘Postal Requisition’ from the Metropolitan Police after they identified her by obtaining help through social media. The post of Marieha and other individuals at the march have since been removed.
Once the 5 realised the risk and likelihood that an offence may be being committed, they proceeded to lay down the placards at which point, the police pounced on them to arrest them with pathetic Zionist reasoning.
They were then taken away and detained at Hammersmith police station where Senior Director and Guantanamo survivor Moazzam Begg arrived to commence another protest and address the public and police on their wholly unjustified arrest of the CAGE employees.
Whether they are charged or not remains to be seen. In the meantime, Begg had a few choice words for the constabulary and the establishment to focus on criminals like the Israelis and their enablers who are walking around freely, whilst innocent people are arrested for no reason.
CAGE updated their site with a full statement which reads as follows.
“London- This morning, 5 members of CAGE International were arrested by the Metropolitan police outside Westminster Magistrates Court for holding satirical placards.
They were protesting the prosecution of Marieha Hussain who had been arrested at an anti-genocide protest after she held a placard depicting right-wing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts.
This heavy-handed response is a deliberate attempt to silence anti-genocide voices criticising the role of the British government in the crimes taking place in Gaza. We are witnessing the adoption and implementation of tactics deployed in Israel and passed on to the British police. As a result, any criticism of Israeli apartheid and genocide is met with aggressive military style policing so that even political satire , however nuanced such as the use of watermelons and coconut images , is now criminalised . The rights to free speech and protest established over many centuries is being destroyed to satisfy the demands of the Israeli state and its supporters. The irony is that it was British culture that brought the world Spitting Image, Private Eye and Yes Minister.
A peaceful protest is gathered in front of Hammersmith Police station in solidarity with ‘The Coconut 5’.”
Anas Mustapha, Head of Public Advocacy at CAGE International said:
“The crackdown on legitimate dissent to defend Israel’s genocide and its accessories is alarming. The Met Police should be busy seeking to arrest Zionist war criminals who travel unhindered to and from the UK.”
“We are witnessing the weaponisation of anti-racism laws against religious and ethnic minority groups. It is telling that the five detained, are all Muslims of South Asian descent, have been arrested for criticising Sunak and Braverman, two members of government widely decried for their racist policies.”
"We demand the unconditional release of the five CAGE International members and the immediate return of all coconut fruits. We call on all right-thinking individuals and organisations to stand up for the rights of free speech and protest as all our civil liberties are under attack not just those of those currently incarcerated."
Since the statement was released, CAGE has subsequently confirmed on social media that a sister has also been arrested bringing the total number of detained employees to six.
May Allah protect them.
We should remember the difficulties this charity is being forced to face. Being targeted and shamed in the public domain to delegitimise them and lower their public image just so that the ‘establishment’ can sleep soundly at night and make everyone believe no atrocities are being committed against our brothers and sisters across the Middle East.
CAGE and Moazzam Begg are one of the many organisations that are an embodiment of Muslims who have suffered and lived to tell the story, and that’s a truth Zionists can’t stomach.
