[KnowItAll]

Looks like the UK still continues to operate in a manner which the Americans would take a lot of pride in.

Student researching al-Qaida tactics held for six days | higher news | EducationGuardian.co.uk

and

Terrorism arrests on British university campus raise questions over academic freedom - International Herald Tribune

Academics at a university in central England say a Muslim student and staffer were detained for nearly a week under British terrorism laws for attempting to print an al-Qaida manual as part of the student's dissertation research.

The arrest of 22-year-old Nottingham University master's student Rizwaan Sabir and staff member Hicham Yezza has riled professors and raised questions about how closely authorities should be policing university work. Both were released without charge six days later, although Yezza, an Algerian, was subsequently re-arrested for violating immigration laws and is being deported.

Sabir was writing on the American approach to al-Qaida in Iraq, according to his dissertation supervisor Rod Thornton, a terrorism researcher and a former British soldier. Sabir's supporters say he downloaded and sent the al-Qaida training document to Yezza, an acquaintance, because he didn't want to pay the printing fee. Someone then alerted police, who swooped in and arrested them both on May 14.

Sabir's academic adviser, Bettina Renz, said Saturday that the manual — freely available on the U.S. Department of Justice Web site — was "obviously" part of her student's research into Islamic extremism.

"If I was researching the subject very likely I would have looked at this myself," Renz said. "The severity of the reaction is just mind-boggling to me, to be honest."

Where and when does this insanity stop?

[DanielandHayley]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

Looks like the UK still continues to operate in a manner which the Americans would take a lot of pride in.

Student researching al-Qaida tactics held for six days | higher news | EducationGuardian.co.uk

and

Terrorism arrests on British university campus raise questions over academic freedom - International Herald Tribune



Where and when does this insanity stop?

they (the 'authorities') can't win really, hindsight is a wonderful thing, yes looking at it now it is a vast overreaction...but IF they were part of a terriost network etc and did go onto to commit such an act, imagine the outcry if it emerged that the 'authorites' were aware of instruction manuals being passed around and printed off...

anyway, it led to a crime being discovered and the offender being duley punished...good old British justice.

[KnowItAll]

Terrorism is not new ... has been going on for thousands of years. Infact, I'd bet less people are still killed due to genuine terrorist plots than due to just sheer stupidity like drunk driving.

Yet, we seem to have lost all perspective and continue to justify the loss of all basic rights and common sense.

[DanielandHayley]

True. However, 'modern terrorists' if you like, operate in ways that [arguably] require a different approach to counteract them, human/basic rights are undeniably important but we have also had mis-carriages of justice and wrongfull arrests throughout the course of history so there is nothing new in that respect.

Whilst I am sure that many more people have died as a result of drunk driving etc...would you feel that your 'human rights' had been violated if randomly asked to take a breath test havin been pulled over?? The numbers killed argument doesn't really hold up, if the murder rate fell by 99% that wouldn't make a case for it becoming legal...

the times we live in and all that...

[chimo]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

The arrest of 22-year-old Nottingham University master's student Rizwaan Sabir and staff member Hicham Yezza has riled professors and raised questions about how closely authorities should be policing university work.

This was what caused the problem. To police it might sound suspiscious. Yezza was not a student, nor was he part of the university. So why is he downloading the manual? They were questioned seperately and their stories did not match (since Yezza was in the UK illegally and he wanted to protect himself) so the police took the matter seriously.

That being said I can't wait until this chapter of our history is over. Sick and tired of it all (both sides)... one of the many reasons why I chose to relocate in this part of the world

[KnowItAll]

Would the human rights aspect be a little bit more clear if it was say, a WASPy student in China who got thrown into the dungeons because he downloaded some Tibet related materials from a US govt website?

[DanielandHayley]

Originally Posted by chimo

This was what caused the problem. To police it might sound suspiscious. Yezza was not a student, nor was he part of the university. So why is he downloading the manual? They were questioned seperately and their stories did not match (since Yezza was in the UK illegally and he wanted to protect himself) so the police took the matter seriously.

That being said I can't wait until this chapter of our history is over. Sick and tired of it all (both sides)... one of the many reasons why I chose to relocate in this part of the world

I agree and also one of the reasons I left the UK...a little lunch time anecdote on the subject, whilst I was at University I was working in a hotel and was in the lobby talking to a 'upper-middle class British gentlement' (you can picture the type) when I was asked by a young girl around 8yrs old of midlle eastern appearance where the toilet was, to which I pointed her in the right direction..the man I was talking to then, with complete seriousness quesioned whether I should send some to watch her as, and I remember his words exactly.. " you never know with those lot, it wouldn't be beyond them to use a child as a suicide bomber" ...in the heart of the devon countryside no less...

[gilleshk]

I fail to see where "all basic human rights" have been lost here. Guy is being deported on violating immigration laws...Nothing wrong with that. I'd say that someone researching Al Qaeda is definitely worth checking out but the 6 day arrest seems like an overkill.

I have to say that detaining people for questioning without lawyers is completely inappropriate if that's what happened.

The crap that the US did/does at Guantanamo Bay is shameful when it comes from a country that wraps itself in democracy/freedom blah blah blah If Britain is following suit, it's shameful.

As it's correctly pointed out, people die way more often from vehicular accidents than from terrorism yet there aren't extreme measures put in place. Not to mention the gun problem in the US. That's hilarious to see that we can carry a bottle a water on the plane but you can just about buy an automatic pistol at the corner store. How ridiculous is that?

[chimo]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

Would the human rights aspect be a little bit more clear if it was say, a WASPy student in China who got thrown into the dungeons because he downloaded some Tibet related materials from a US govt website?

Well you mentioned a "WASPy student in China". But in this case he was not a student, he was a guy who overstayed his tourist visa in the UK. This was what caused the problem. I can guarantee you if he had been a legal student nothing would have happened.

I wan't defending it, just offering my hypothesis on what happened. Newspapers never give the whole story, just the story they want you to hear.

[sylvesterjay]

KIA, I know you will enjoy this discourse on terrorism and Indians...

YouTube - Russell Peters Outsourced Terrorist