A Muslim university student was held for seven days without charge as a suspected terrorist after police “made up” evidence against him.

Documents from the professional standards unit of West Midlands police reveal that officers fabricated key elements of the case against former University of Nottingham student, Rizwaan Sabir.

The highly controversial case generated a debate over the extent of Islamophobia within UK universities and also an international furore over academic freedom led by renowned US scholar Noam Chomsky.

Sabir was researching terrorist tactics for a master’s at the University of Nottingham in 2008 when he was detained under the Terrorism Act and accused by police of downloading an al-Qaida training manual for terrorist purposes.

The 27-year-old, however, had downloaded a manual from a US government website for his research which could be bought at WH Smith, Waterstones and Amazon as well as the university’s own library. After seven days and six nights in police custody, Sabir was released without charge or apology.

The incident so incensed the university’s sole terrorism expert Dr Rod Thornton, a lecturer at its department of Politics and International Relations that he published an article condemning the University’s handling of the arrest and treatment of Sabir.

In a paper prepared for the British International Studies Association, he alleged the university attempted to smear the student. Following publication of the article, Thornton was suspended by the university in Spring 2011 provoking an international outcry over academic freedom with an international coalition of professors and doctors, including Chomsky, demanding his “immediate reinstatement”.

The 67 figures, from universities around the world, said they were “deeply concerned” and called for an inquiry into the affair.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act also reveal that the arrests were mentioned in a report, cited and disseminated by the Home Office, called Islamist Terrorist Plots in Great Britain: Uncovering the Global Network.

Now, however, the results of the internal West Midlands police professional standards investigation into the affair following complaints by Thornton over the police’s handing of the case is complete. It found that officers effectively invented what Thornton, the university’s sole terrorism expert, told them about the al-Qaida training manual in a police interview.

During the interview Thornton said that he merely told police that Sabir was studying al-Qaida, but was never asked to discuss the manual. Thornton says that officers invented claims that he had concerns over the manual which he says are an apparent attempt to justify the arrest and police anti-terror operation, codenamed Minerva.

The findings of the force’s standard’s inquiry upheld Thornton’s claim that officers “made up what he said about the al-Qaida manual.”

It also states that the actual minutes of the Gold Group meeting of the detectives assigned to the case “incorrectly recorded” their conversation with Thornton.

Internal notes from the Gold Group meeting, dated May 17 2008, actually reveal police quoting Thornton as believing the manual was a “tactical document” and could not be considered relevant to Sabir’s academic research into terrorism.

Thornton has now referred the police treatment of him to the IPCC. The standards board, however, says that no officers will be investigated for misconduct.

Thornton, a former counter terrorism officer in the British army who earlier this year left his post at Nottingham University by mutual agreement, said: “The police were totally unprofessional. After their mistakes they tried to cover them up. I’ve seen some altered police notes, I’ve seen evidence made up. The whole thing seems to be a complete tissue of lies, starting from the cover up of their mistakes in the first place.”

Sabir, now a PhD student at The University of Bath, said: “I have known that the police lied and deceived in order to justify my arrest and treatment and this has now been proven.

“What should raise alarm bells is how and why the police think it is acceptable to make up information to send innocent Muslims to prison as terrorists. The onus is now on the IPCC to conduct a full and proper investigation into this matter.”

West Midlands police chief inspector Julian Harper, from the force’s Professional Standards Department, said: “While certain aspects of his complaint were upheld, investigating officers found there was no case to answer in respect of misconduct.

“As is standard practice, we advised the complainant that he could appeal this decision through the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

“As he has chosen to take this course of action, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further.”

SOURCE: theguardian

THE Muslim community in Bristol today said its members will not be taking part in a counter protest against the English Defence League.

Zaheer Shabir, Chair for Building the Bridge on behalf of the Muslim Community issued the following statement:

It has been made clear by many communities in Bristol that the English Defence League is not welcome here on the 14th July.

As a vibrant and diverse Muslim community in Bristol, we have met extensively in recent weeks maintaining a clear, concise and unanimous message that we will NOT be involved in any kind of counter protest.

These meetings have allowed us with a further opportunity to demonstrate how the Bristol Muslim community meets any challenge with dignity and unity.

Despite there being a possibility, the Muslim community did not encourage anyone to sign the e-petition demanding a ban on EDL marching in our City of Bristol.

The number of meetings we have had with the Police and Bristol City Council clarify their position on the EDL march, the UAF counter protest and the Gay Pride family event.

We have decided to be a part of the positive attitude of Bristol in conducting ourselves in the usual manner.

We support Bristol City Council and the Police in ensuring that these events do not disrupt Bristol in its usual daily business and we are positively encouraged by that.

In a proactive manner, the Muslim community leadership have met with the EDL to create a pathway for future dialogue. This was the first of its kind in the UK and positive assurances were given by the EDL representatives.

We have also met with UAF and We are Bristol to clarify our position on the counter protest requesting them not to confuse and entice Muslim youth to join their counter protest. They have not proactively engaged with the Muslim community leadership so we are not assured on any matters whatsoever.

However, we have urged both these groups to reconsider their intentions to march on 14th July as it disturbs the fabric of our city’s goodwill. However, Muslims in Bristol clearly understands the freedom to exercise the right to protest and express oneself.

We have requested that anyone wishing to join the counter protest should do so to express themselves in a peaceful and meaningful way.

I am sure you will join me in agreeing that the diverse Muslim community in Bristol is resilient and intends to conduct itself with our usual dignity despite the challenges being presented with these issues.

We refuse to be consumed in the rhetoric of hate and division which goes against the true meaning of Islam.

It would be more wrong to be involved in any clashes which lead to arrests and possible convictions. The Bristol Muslim Community will not support any act of aggression or a breach of the peace.

We hope this will not happen but it is an important message so the terms of engagement remain peaceful and do not get distorted or hijacked by a few that could bring shame to Bristol or tarnish the good name of our Bristol communities.

Bristol is proud to be productive on multiculturalism, diverse, understanding and cohesive. Bristol shines with the City of Sanctuary status and it has an excellent effective community cohesion strategy. Undoubtedly, it does hurt to have all these achievements smudged and marred whereas the event of 15th July will enable Bristol to reclaim and endorse our unity together.

In order to maintain the status quo of this city, there will be a peace walk on Sunday 15th July assembling at Queens Square at 2pm proceeding to Millennium Square. A series of messages have gone out inviting people of Bristol to celebrate the growing unity of all people in our city.

We trust the media to convey the Bristol Muslim community message of peace, acceptance and co-existance.

We hope Bristol enjoys itself at the Gay Pride family event. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you on Queens Square on the 15th July at 2pm.

SOURCE:  This is Bristol

To be a prominent Muslim means suffering a daily diet of bigotry and even outright hatred. This week, Mehdi Hasan – who, other than my colleague Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, is Britain’s only prominent Muslim journalist – wrote of how, every day, he is attacked as a “jihadist” and a “terrorist”. He has been described as a “dangerous Muslim shithead”, a “moderate cockroach”, and worse. The message from his critics is clear: Muslims have no legitimate place in public life.

Mehdi Hasan was right to speak out, but it must not be left to Muslims alone to take on this bigotry. A tide of Islamophobia has swept Europe for many years, and – shamefully – all too few have taken a stand. Even many who regard themselves as “progressives” have either remained silent or even indulged anti-Muslim prejudice. It’s time for Muslims and non-Muslims alike to join forces against the most widespread – and most acceptable – form of bigotry of our times.

Think I’m exaggerating? Consider that the far-right’s main target of choice is no longer Jews or black people: it’s Muslims. The BNP portrays itself as a crusade against the “Islamification” of Britain; in the 2010 election, it launched a “Campaign Against Islam”. Its leader, Nick Griffin, describes Islam as “wicked” and a “cancer”, and has blamed Muslims for problems such as drugs and rape. The English Defence League stages frequent – and often intimidating – street rallies protesting against Muslims.

But anti-Muslim prejudice isn’t simply confined to the far-right fringes. I attended a Stockport sixth form with a large Muslim student population. The reality of their lives is all but airbrushed out of existence. When they appear at all, it’s generally as fanatics, extremists or a community somehow “harbouring” dangerous extremists. (When do Britain’s whites face the absurdity of being called on to crack down on far-right fanatics supposedly in their ranks?) One study took a selection of newspapers in a single week: 91 per cent of reports featuring Muslims were negative.

One of my Muslim fellow students was Dr Leon Moosavi, fast becoming a national authority on Islamophobia. He battles against the widespread denial that anti-Muslim prejudice is a problem. But consider that, in one poll conducted by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, 45 per cent of Britons agreed that “there are too many Muslims” in Britain. Imagine if nearly half the population admitted to believing that “there are too many Jews” in Britain: how loud would our alarm be?

Of course, it is not just a British problem: the poison of Islamophobia has infected Europe’s political mainstream. According to a Pew Research Center survey, nearly six out of 10 Europeans believe that Muslims were “fanatical”, and half believed they were “violent”. As here, the European far-right aims fire at Muslims above all other groups. In the Netherlands, an anti-Muslim party led by Geert Wilders is the third largest in parliament. Wilders compares the Koran to Mein Kampf, calls Islam a “Trojan Horse” in Europe and demands that the country’s 850,000 Muslims be paid to leave the country. Wilders doesn’t languish on the fringes: the current Dutch cabinet depended for two years on his party’s support.

Or take sleepy Switzerland, where the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) is the biggest party in the country’s Federal Assembly. The SVP won a referendum on the banning of minarets, which the party’s general secretary described as “symbols of Islamic power”. During the vote, Geneva’s mosque was repeatedly vandalised. Farhad Afshar, the president of the Coordination of Islamic Organisations, had no doubt what signal was sent by this vote: “that Muslims do not feel accepted as a religious community”. But it gets even darker than that. In June, the Zurich-based SVP politician Alexander Müller was forced to stand down after tweeting: “Maybe we need another Kristallnacht… this time for mosques.” The parallels with anti-Semitism could not be more overt.

In France – where recently 42 per cent polled for Le Monde believed that the presence of Muslims was a “threat” to their national identity – a record number voted for the anti-Muslim National Front in April’s presidential elections. Denmark’s third largest party is the People’s Party, which rails against “Islamisation” and demands the end of all non-Western immigration. The anti-Muslim Vlaams Belang flourishes in Flemish Belgium. But those who take a stand against Islamophobia are often demanded to qualify it with a condemnation of extremism. When is this ever asked of other stands against prejudice? When we condemn anti-Semitic hate, must we criticise repressive Israeli policies in the same breath? It would be absurd – they are completely separate issues, and indeed millions of Jews across the world oppose the actions of Israel’s government.

Anti-Muslim hate is a European pandemic. I’m proud to stand with Mehdi Hasan and other Muslims facing Islamophobia. But – I implore, I beg fellow non-Muslims – stand with them too, before this hatred spirals further out of control.

SOURCE:THE INDEPENDENT