A FORMER Guantanamo Bay prisoner and human rights campaigner has won his eight-year battle against the Home Office to have his passport restored. 

Moazzam Begg, who was held for three years at Guantanamo where he said he was tortured by the US, had the document taken from him in 2013 following two trips to Syria. 

Repeated attempts by Mr Begg to have his passport restored in the following years were denied despite police accepting he was innocent after a terror prosecution case relating to his time in Syria collapsed in 2014. 

But correspondence from the Home Office, dated May 27, informed Mr Begg that Home Secretary Priti Patel has now decided he can apply for a British passport. 

It comes after he launched a legal challenge against the Home Office earlier this year against what he described as a “systematic campaign of harassment” by the government and the refusal to restore his passport. 

Mr Begg, who is also a director of advocacy group Cage, argued that the removal of the document had hindered his global advocacy work and stopped him visiting friends and family abroad. 

He said: “A passport is more than just a travel document, it’s literally the strongest proof of one’s identity. When that is arbitrarily denied by the state it is essentially saying ‘you don't really belong’.”

Mr Begg was released from Guantanamo in 2005 without charge.

Shortly after his return to Britain, his passport was taken away for the first time, but later restored in 2009. 

The document was later stripped again following Mr Begg’s trips to Syria which he said was part of his campaign work, adding that he had met with MI5 officers beforehand who had made it clear he was free to travel to the country.

In 2021, Mr Begg was briefly issued with a passport only for it to be revoked four weeks later. 

Mr Begg added that he did not know whether this would be the last time he’d have to fight to hold onto the document, “but I do know my fight to hold the state accountable doesn’t end with a passport,” he said. 

“It’s just a new beginning. I thank all those who have supported me and Cage in yet another win against the odds.”