Student researching al-Qaida tactics held for six days
A masters student researching terrorist tactics who was arrested and detained for six days after his university informed police about al-Qaida-related material he downloaded has spoken of the "psychological torture" he endured in custody. Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act, accused of downloading the materials for illegal use. The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaida training manual from a US government website for his research into terrorist tactics. The case highlights what lecturers are claiming is a direct assault on academic freedom led by the government which, in its attempt to establish a "prevent agenda" against terrorist activity, is putting pressure on academics to become police informers. <snip> Of his detention, Sabir said: "I was absolutely broken. I didn't sleep. I'd close my eyes then hear the keys clanking and I would be up again. As I realised the severity I thought I'd end up in Belmarsh with the nutcases. It was psychological torture. "On Tuesday they read me a statement confirming it was an illegal document which shouldn't be used for research purposes. To this day no one has ever clarified that point. They released me. I was shaking violently, I fell against the wall, then on the floor and I just cried." <snip> http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2282045,00.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If this man hadn't been studying al Qaida terrorism as part of a degree and had just been an ordinary person who was curious about AQ's terrorist techniques then he would have been prosecuted for possession of this material. In fact, for a regular citizen having any information about explosives, military small arms usage etc now falls under the catch-all offence: "possession of material useful to terrorists". See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7193910.stm So you could own a foolish book which discusses some of these issues and you can now be prosecuted for that alone: http://tinyurl.com/6kxxge I never thought that we would end up in a situation where mere possession of words on a page became illegal, just as was the case in the USSR.
A masters student researching terrorist tactics who was arrested and detained for six days after his university informed police about al-Qaida-related material he downloaded has spoken of the "psychological torture" he endured in custody. Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act, accused of downloading the materials for illegal use. The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaida training manual from a US government website for his research into terrorist tactics. The case highlights what lecturers are claiming is a direct assault on academic freedom led by the government which, in its attempt to establish a "prevent agenda" against terrorist activity, is putting pressure on academics to become police informers. <snip> Of his detention, Sabir said: "I was absolutely broken. I didn't sleep. I'd close my eyes then hear the keys clanking and I would be up again. As I realised the severity I thought I'd end up in Belmarsh with the nutcases. It was psychological torture. "On Tuesday they read me a statement confirming it was an illegal document which shouldn't be used for research purposes. To this day no one has ever clarified that point. They released me. I was shaking violently, I fell against the wall, then on the floor and I just cried." <snip> http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2282045,00.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If this man hadn't been studying al Qaida terrorism as part of a degree and had just been an ordinary person who was curious about AQ's terrorist techniques then he would have been prosecuted for possession of this material. In fact, for a regular citizen having any information about explosives, military small arms usage etc now falls under the catch-all offence: "possession of material useful to terrorists". See: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7193910.stm So you could own a foolish book which discusses some of these issues and you can now be prosecuted for that alone: http://tinyurl.com/6kxxge I never thought that we would end up in a situation where mere possession of words on a page became illegal, just as was the case in the USSR.