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| Britain | ||||
| Nottingham University films extremists, causes uproar | ||||
| 2011-06-13 | ||||
Secret documents relating to a "major Islamist plot" have shown that security staff from a leading university have been filming students on campus as a method of monitoring potential extremists.
The material charts the results of the May 2008 arrest by counter-terrorism officers of Nottingham student Rizwaan Sabir and of Hicham Yezza, who worked at the university's school of modern languages. Sabir had downloaded an al-Qaida training manual as part of research for a dissertation, and had sought Yezza's help in drafting a PhD proposal because of his position as the editor of Ceasefire, a political magazine. Although campaigners say the manual was available in the university's own library and that versions are widely available from retailers, university officials alerted the police. Both men were released without charge six days later. Even so, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that the arrests were mentioned in a report, cited by the Home Office, called Islamist Terrorist Plots in Great Britain: Uncovering the Global Network. They also reveal how the security staff kept a log of Middle East-related activities on campus, including records of talks and seminars revolving around Palestine and other issues.
Staff and students who spoke out in support of Yezza and Sabir were logged by a Whitehall counter-terrorism unit called the Research, Information and Communications Unit, which is embedded in the government's Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. Shami Chakrabarti, director of pressure group Liberty, said: "Is it right that universities are taking on policing duties?"
In a paper prepared for the British International Studies Association, he alleged the university "refused to apologise to the men" and attempted to smear them. "Untruth piled on untruth until a point was reached where the Home Office itself farcically came to advertise the case as a 'major Islamist plot'," he wrote. The university responded by suspending Thornton, who lectures on security issues and is a former infantryman who served in Northern Ireland. That prompted an international outcry in which 67 academics, including Noam Chomsky, demanded his "immediate reinstatement". The group claimed the original arrests were "indicative of a growing tide of Islamophobia". | ||||
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #3 IIRC, post-Osama "interim" Al-Qaeda Leader SAIF ADEL has vowed to launch major terror attacks on LONDON = UK. 2011-2020/2025 = PAN-ISLAMIST NUCLEARIZATION = EXPANSION, ESCALATION OF VIOLENT JIHAD = US + UK, other Allied Top Leaders = Families are at high risk of becom victims to Terrops. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-06-13 20:51 |
| #2 The university responded by suspending Thornton, who lectures on security issues and is a former infantryman who served in Northern Ireland. That prompted an international outcry in which 67 academics, including Noam Chomsky, demanded his "immediate reinstatement". Well if Noam Chomsky is peeved at the university, you can bet that they did the right thing. |
| Posted by: remoteman 2011-06-13 19:19 |
| #1 What did the Sheriff do? |
| Posted by: mojo 2011-06-13 16:43 |