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Vol. 73/No. 30      August 10, 2009

 
UK: Pakistani students
fight ‘terrorism’ arrests
 
BY ALEX XEZONAKIS  
LONDON—More than 100 people met at the School of Oriental and African Studies here July 2 as part of the campaign to free 10 Pakistani students fighting moves by the British government to deport them on grounds of “national security” and “visa irregularities.”

Along with two others, the students, known as the North West 10, were arrested in high-profile “antiterror” raids across northwest England in April. They have been detained without charges ever since.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed the police operation had foiled a “major terrorist plot.”

One of the students was arrested at gunpoint outside Liverpool John Moores University library. Journalism student Daniel Taylor said, “I saw a man on the floor. Police were shouting at him and one of the officers had what looked like a machine gun pointed right into his head,” reported the BBC.

Of the 12 arrested, Tariq Rehman agreed to return to Pakistan if the allegations against him were dropped. Another, a British national, was released without charge.

The 10 have each been denied bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission. The commission hears “evidence” in secret with a government-appointed advocate representing the accused. Defendants and their lawyers are excluded from proceedings and not informed of charges against them.

The men have been held in category-A detention, been strip-searched, and denied any books to continue their studies.

Stephanie Harrison, one of the defense lawyers, told the commission, “Not a single piece of actual physical evidence has been produced.”

Eight of the men were allegedly enrolled at a “bogus” college in Manchester, according to press reports. The London Telegraph stated that such universities “let in hundreds of men from Pakistan’s al-Qaeda heartland.”

Professor Jawed Siddiqi of Sheffield Hallam University noted, “If they were conned by a bogus college, they should be treated as victims.” He is one of 25 academics who urged university authorities to supply the students with material so that they could continue studies and sit for their exams despite being detained.

Between April 2004 and April 2008 more than 42,000 Pakistani nationals entered the United Kingdom on student visas.

Since 2007 Pakistani applicants have been vetted and subject to fingerprint tests and checks against criminal and counterterrorism databases. From autumn this year, universities will be obligated to check the names of all overseas students against a government database.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Grayling called on the government to “urgently step up” background checks. Former London mayor Kenneth Livingstone said terrorists “find a way around” any changes to the visa system. “We catch these people because of electronic surveillance and double agents and we aren’t going to pick one up easily at the border,” he said.

On July 17 two of the men, Janas Khan and Sultan Sher, were released from custody but face deportation if denied new visas to continue their studies.

More information can be found at www.j4nw10.org.
 
 
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Close all U.S. prison camps now!  
 
 
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