[NetBehaviour] Fwd: FW: FW: Student and Staff arrests at Nottingham University

[Helen Varley Jamieson]

>
>
>
>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:registrars at nottingham.ac.uk>registrars at nottingham.ac.uk; 
>please send a copy to
><mailto:alf.nilsen at nottingham.ac.uk>alf.nilsen at nottingham.ac.uk.
>
>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
>

-- 
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helen varley jamieson: creative catalyst
helen at creative-catalyst.com
http://www.creative-catalyst.com
http://www.avatarbodycollision.org
http://www.upstage.org.nz
http://www.writerfind.com/hjamieson.htm
____________________________________________________________


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