On Sunday 15th July, the Observer revealed that West Midlands police officers had "made up" evidence against a University of Nottingham student in 2008. Rizwaan Sabir was wrongfully accused of "collecting information of a kind to provide practical assistance to a person committing an act of terrorism" after coming into possession of a document for his PhD proposal. An internal West Midlands police…

There has been growing anger at the University of Nottingham’s attempts to silence Dr Rod Thornton, author of a critical article which exposes the complicity of university management in the wrongful arrests of the ‘Nottingham Two’. A student and a member of staff – Rizwaan Sabir and Hicham Yezza – were arrested as suspected terrorists in May 2008. On Tuesday 10th May, a letter calling…

Last week, an article entitled, ‘Radicalisation at universities or radicalisation by universities?’ by University of Nottingham academic Rod Thornton was published, shedding more light on the case of the “Nottingham Two”. This article has now been removed from the website of the British International Studies Association (BISA) allegedly under pressure from the University, who have also now sus…

An extensive paper on the case of the Nottingham Two has been published by University of Nottingham academic, Rod Thornton. Pieced together from heavily redacted Freedom of Information requests, Rizwaan Sabir’s Data Protection Access requests and even meetings with Special Branch officers, it paints a damning picture of the University’s management. Entitled Radicalisation at universities o…

Radicalisation at universities or radicalisation by universities?: How a student’s use of a library book became a “major Islamist plot”

Rod Thornton

In May 2008, on the campus of the University of Nottingham, two men of ethnic minority background - a student and an administrator - were arrested and held for six days under the Terrorism Act 2000. Their crime was to have in their posses…

Hicham Yezza and Rizwaan Sabir were arrested under the Terrorism Act in May 2008 at the University of Nottingham. In the pair's first joint interview since those events, Riseup Radio spoke to them about the persecution they've faced since the arrests, the plight of other Muslims accused of terrorist offences, the government's anti-terror strategies, the growth of Islamophobia in the media and in t…

Nottingham photographer 'Tash' strongly supports the British Journal of Photography Campaign