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