A CAMPAIGNING Hagley doctor has branded the arrest of a former Guantanamo Bay inmate a “scandalous waste” of time and money after he was finally released without charge.

Ex-detainee Moazzam Begg walked free from jail today (Wednesday) after seven months in custody - after a string of terrorist charges linked to the civil war in Syria were dropped.

Mr Begg, aged 46, from Birmingham, was acquitted of all seven charges just days before his trial was due to start at the Old Bailey after "new material" emerged undermining the Crown Prosecution Service's case.

Dr David Nicholl, a Guantanamo Bay protestor and keen supporter of Mr Begg, said: “I welcome his release. I think it was a scandalous waste of his, police and CPS time that he was ever arrested in the first place. There was never any realistic chance of a prosecution. I think it was politically motivated.

“He told MI5 he was going over to Syria. If you’re going to mastermind a terrorist plot you don’t tell the secret service you’re going there.”