Seized by Pakistani intelligence at his home in Pakistan in February 2002, he was transferred to the custody of US Army officers, who held him in the detention centre at Bagram, Afghanistan, before transferring him to Guantanamo Bay, where he was held until January 2005. After his release, Begg became a media commentator on issues pertaining to US, UK and international anti-terror measures. He toured as a speaker about Guantanamo and other detention facilities. Many people ask Begg if he was tortured in Guantanamo. He was never waterboarded or subjected to the sexual humiliation that some prisoners were, but he was deprived of sleep for days at a time, denied the right to exercise and threatened, beaten up by guards and forced into stress positions for hours at at a time. His experiences in Guantanamo, Bagram and Khandahar led him to write his memoir, Enemy Combatant.