Support Rod Thornton, Whistleblower @ Nottingham

Three years ago, University of Nottingham employee Hicham Yezza got done for ‘terrorism’.

Well, kinda… but not really (see : Free Hicham Yezza!, May 30, 2008). What Yezza actually done was assist a student, Rizwaan Sabir, to access research materials related to Al-Qaeda. Later, British authorities threatened to deport Yezza to Algeria: he eventually ended up doing five months in prison (for other reasons of state; see : Support Hicham Yezza) but is now free to roam.

The legal proceedings against Yezza and Sabir were farcical. Rod Thornton, a lecturer in International Security and Terrorism at the University, pointed out in a paper (‘Radicalisation at universities or radicalisation by universities? How a student’s use of a library book became a ‘major Islamist plot”) that their ‘crime’ “was to have in their possession three documents—all of which were, in fact, available from their own university’s library”.

Several weeks ago, Thornton was suspended from his position, a result of his having also exposed in his paper the involvement of management at the University of Nottingham in the arrests of the two students (see : University of Nottingham suspends professor in major assault on free speech, Robert Stevens, wsws.org, May 25, 2011).

Now:

Confidential documents relating to a “major Islamist plot” have revealed that security staff from a leading university have been filming students on campus as a method of monitoring potential extremists.

More than 200 university documents – along with material from the Met’s counter-terrorism command, Special Branch and the Crown Prosecution Service – detail the controversial techniques being deployed to monitor students.

The documents, published today on the website Unileaks, follows the government’s publication of its Prevent strategy, which is aimed at targeting radicalisation in universities but has sparked concerns that it could fuel Islamophobia.

The dox are available on the Unileaks site here; a letter from loadsa non-Australian pointyheads calling on the University to reinstate Thornton is available here.

As might be expected, the campaign in support of Rod Thornton has completely freaked out University authorities, who’ve now resorted to covertly filming those against.

Also!

Support the Whistleblower at Nottingham

About @ndy

I live in Melbourne, Australia. I like anarchy. I don't like nazis. I enjoy eating pizza and drinking beer. I barrack for the greatest football team on Earth: Collingwood Magpies. The 2024 premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.
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