Arrests and release
In 2008 Rizwaan Sabir downloaded a 1,500-page document connected to his research on militant Islam from the
US Justice Department website. The document, known as the Al-Qaeda training manual, is also available in book form from Amazon.
[3][4] [5] Sabir was in the process of preparing his forthcoming PhD proposal, and he was being advised and helped by his friend Hicham Yezza who was a member of staff at the university of Nottingham at the time. Sabir often sent Yezza copies of documents and reading materials he was using for his research, and the Al-Qaeda manual was one of them. The document was noticed on Yezza's computer by a colleague and as a result the university authorities notified the police.
On 14 May 2008, Yezza was arrested under Section 41 of the
Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of being involved in the "commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism".
[6] When Sabir tried to support Yezza, he was arrested under the same charge.
[5][7]
The arrest sparked a debate over academic freedom when it was revealed that the document was related to research at the University.
[8]
On 20 May 2008, Sabir and Yezza were released without charge. Upon his release, Sabir stated: "the power of the state hit me as hard as it could",
[3] and described his experience as "the most degrading, dehumanising encounter [he had] ever experienced".
[9] According to reports by Al-Jazeera, Sabir states he was "subjected to psychological torture" and believes that "If [the UK] is trying to stop the radicalisation of Muslims the way to do that is not by locking away innocent people... That will only exacerbate the problem."
[9] Sabir stated that he would continue with his PhD despite the recent events and use his experiences to raise awareness of the draconian anti-terror powers that the
government has implemented.
[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nottingham_Two#cite_note-Alj-8
Aftermath
Following the terrorism charges Yezza faced
deportation charges.
[10] He was issued with a removal order but the plans to deport him before any judicial review could take place were eventually cancelled.
[11] Former British Ambassador
Craig Murray suggested that the handling of the incident is evidence of Islamophobia.
[12] In 2009, Yezza was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment for Visa irregularities, but was released after five months.
[13]
After Sabir was released,
Sir Colin Campbell, then
Vice-Chancellor of the University, controversially stated:
"There is no 'right' to access and research terrorist materials. Those who do so run the risk of being investigated and prosecuted on terrorism charges. Equally, there is no 'prohibition' on accessing terrorist materials for the purpose of research. Those who do so are likely to be able to offer a defence to charges (although they may be held in custody for some time while the matter is investigated).
[3]
The entire incident led to public criticism at the time of Campbell, who appeared unwilling to defend the notion of academic freedom in his response to the arrest. Although, it has been acknowledged that the vice chancellor was acting within the remit of the data protection act and was not at liberty to divulge the information that the protesters sought.
[14]
Due to the arrests, the
University of Nottingham has come under intense criticism for sacrificing
academic freedom and failing to protect the right of its students and staff from conducting research free from the threat of arrest and detention under the
Terrorism Act.
[15] Criticism for the
University of Nottingham was increased when the Politics Department established a “module review committee” that “scrutinises” the “reading lists of lecturers” in case they contain “material that is illegal or could incite violence”.
[16]
David Miller, professor of sociology at the
University of Strathclyde and the convenor of
Teaching About Terrorism, said “Nottingham's review policy represented a fundamental attack on academic freedom. The module review committee is a censorship committee: it can't operate as anything else. The university is acting as the police, one step removed."
[16]
Critics have argued that the University of Nottingham's stance is setting a very dangerous precedent for research on an issue (
terrorism) that is very contemporary and very popular amongst many university students. A
lecturer in the
school of
politics and
international relations stated:
“We are greatly concerned by the disproportionate nature of the university’s response to the possession of legitimate research materials. Both the individuals are unreservedly innocent and they and their families and friends and have been greatly distressed by the overzealous police investigation. It is crucial that we do not let concerns for security become the enemy of liberty and academic freedom”[17]
Criticism for the
University of Nottingham has increased since the only Terrorism Expert at the institution, Dr Rod Thornton, decided recently that because of the lack of willingness from the university to provide assistance and guidance to him regarding reading lists and terrorist publications and whether they were okay to disseminate and legitimate to hold, he was no longer willing to risk his own security and liberty by teaching terrorism at Nottingham University.
[18] As a result, terrorism is no longer being taught at the University of Nottingham.
[18]
