Human Rights advocacy group CAGE have embarked on a review of its activities and future objectives, amidst uncertainty and much public interest with regards to its relations with Mohamed Emwazi, notoriously known as the Islamic State beheader “Jihadi John”. CAGE has had to bear the brunt of negative publicity from the press after it blamed British intelligence services for radicalising the ISIS foreign fighter, infamous for his role in the beheading of five foreign journalists and aid workers in Syria.

CAGE has also publicly revealed email interactions with Emwazi prior to his radicalisation, after he sought help from the group at a time when he was on the radar of intelligence services. In light of the case, CAGE has sought to afford interested parties with no relation to the organisation or Emwazi to give comment on how they feel the matter was handled.

CAGE communications officer, Ibrahim Mohamoud said they were seeking to gauge how the community felt about the ‘Jihadi John’ case. The move would allow the broader community to have an active involvement in the work of CAGE, through “civil conversation and engagement”.

“We feel that there are people out there that have much to contribute, and we feel that it is a great opportunity for us to hear from them,” he said.

But with over a week since the launch of the review and there has been little uptake from Brits. Mohamoud said they were confident that as the process progressed, so would public interest.

As a result of the ‘Jihadi John’ case, CAGE has received a substantial amount of publicity, although not always positive. Mohamoud admitted there was much to be done to improve the organisations public standing, particularly through alternative means of public interaction.

“You can’t always rely and be completely dependent on the established means of communication. We need the new age media, social media and other forms of media need to be utilised,” he suggested.

The reviews are not limited to interested parties in the U.K however. Locals who wish to submit a review can do so by submitting an email to contact@cageuk.org. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)