Dear Friends -
I'm writing to call your attention to a recent incident at the University of
Nottingham, where one of our graduate students at the School of Politics and
International Relations and an administrative member of staff at the
Department of Engineering were arrested by armed police under the Terrorism
Act of 2000.
Their alleged "crime" was that the graduate student had downloaded an
Al-Qaeda training manual from a US government website for research purposes,
as he's writing his MA dissertation on Islamic extremism and international
terrorist networks. He had then sent this to his friend in the Department of
Engineering for printing. The printed material had been spotted by other
staff and reported to the University authorities who passed on the
information to the police.
The two were then arrested by armed police on May 14 and held for six days
without charge, before being released without charge on May 20. During the
six days they were imprisoned, the men had their homes raided and their
families harassed by the police. It is worth noticing that in talking to one
of my colleagues, a police officer remarked that the incident would never
have occurred if the persons involved had been "blonde, Swedish PhD students"
(the two men were of British-Pakistani and Algerian backgrounds
respectively).
The incident was recently reported in the Times Higher Education Supplement
online:
<http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=402125&c=2>http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=4021
25&c=2
Needless to say, this raises hugely important issues both about academic
freedom and civil liberties. Obviously, there is the issue that for those of
us involved in research on contentious issues we will by necessity have to
consult primary materials of a controversial nature, and the fact that the
material is controversial should not lead to it being deemed as illegitimate
research material. Moreover, we should not under any circumstances have to
fear for infringements upon our civil liberties as a consequence of doing our
jobs. Moreover, it goes without saying that the university should guarantee
the academic freedom, freedom of speech and expression, and civil liberties
of all members of staff and students, irrespective of ethnic and religious
background or political beliefs!
I would be most grateful if you could circulate this e-mail as widely as
possible in the interest of raising awareness and attention about this
incident and the wider issues of academic freedom that it gives rise to, to
as many of your friends and colleagues as possible!
Please consider writing to the University of Nottingham to express your
concern about this case. Letters should be sent to the Registrar, Dr Paul
Greatrix, at
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED];
please send a copy to
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Regards
Dr. Alf Gunvald Nilsen
RCUK Fellow, Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice, School of
Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham
<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cssgj/index.php>http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cssgj/index.php
University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, England, UK
Office: (0044) (0) 1159514032
--
____________________________________________________________
helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.upstage.org.nz
http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
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