Camille Herreman who has been involved in the Free Hich Campaign writes in the latest issue of Impact Magazine - the offical magazine of the University of Nottingham Students’ Union.

Hicham Yezza - Is Justice Being Served?
Published in Features, This Issue on 14 September 2008

It was during the exam period this summer that Rizwaan Sabir and Hicham Yezza were arrested on campus under Terrorism Act 2000, and were held in custody for six days, before being released without charge. A document had been found on Mr Yezza’s computer: the ‘Al-Qaeda training manual.’

I first met Hicham ‘Hich’ Yezza as a fresher, during a meeting for the political magazine he edits; it was hard not to like him. At his editorial meetings he suggests thought experiments, teases incisive ideas out of his fellow writers and debates with flair. He often shares his knowledge of philosophy, literature, politics and art, commenting perceptively at any opportunity.

When he was arrested along with Rizwaan Sabir (another familiar face on campus) we had very little idea of where they had been taken and why. As the facts slowly seeped out, fear among his friends and many in the student population began to rise. Many among us are studying terrorism, or are Muslim, or hold strong political views. Our two friends, similar in their religious background, their peaceful political activism and their scholarly interest in international relations were suddenly to be criminalised and associated with one of today’s greatest crimes: terrorism. [Read more →]

Award-winning documentary maker Francesco Ragazzi will introduce two of his powerful short movies dealing with immigration issues in France and Italy. He will also talk about his new feature documentary (due for release in 2009) about the Free Hich Campaign.

Location: C50, Portland Building
Date/Time: Wed 8th Oct @ 6:30PM
Free Entry

Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson joined Hicham Yezza and Rizwaan Sabir at a meeting held at the University of Nottingham on 2 October to inform new and update returning students about their arrests and detention in May.

Alan SImpson said ‘… this is not just a university campus, in some ways it is the war zone and I say that with a sense of sadness more than accusation because those of us who were opposed to the war on Iraq … were arguing that amongst other things before very long the war would make its own way into our own stomping ground of cities and communities all round the UK and it would make its way into home turf by way of creating a climate of fear and uncertainty about the nature of the threat to our society.’

Rizwaan and Hicham then outlined what happened when they were arrested and detained, and reflected on how they now understand their experience. Listening to their speeches (use the links below) is a good way to find out about what happened at the university last May and the issues it raises.

Alan Simpson MP Rizwaan Sabir Hicham Yezza

The September issue of Ceasefire Magazine, edited by Hicham Yezza, has just been published. The special issue focuses on the ‘anti-terror’ arrests at the University of Nottingham in May. Jeremy Bates argues the arrests have to be understood in the context of the implications of the corporatisation of universities and the commodification of knowledge for academic freedom. Murray Goulden argues the best way the government could combat terrorism would be to change its foreign policy rather than regulating research on sensitive topics. This issue comprises other articles on for example the legacies of 1968 and on imperialism, as well as a series of interviews.

Hicham writes: “… we have an unprecedented range of interviews: with Noam Chomsky, unarguably ‘the greatest intellectual alive’; Michael Albert, the founding father (or uncle) of participatory Economics and Znet; Norman Finkelstein, the US firebrand academic and best selling author of Beyond Chutzpah, and Gavin Hayes, General Secretary of the influential pressure group Compass”.

Ceasefire Magazine is being sold in the student union shop and across the university’s campuses priced £2.50.

A series of four films that address issues raised by the arrests of Hicham Yezza and Rizwaan Sabir at the University of Nottingham in May are being screened at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham. The first film to be shown is ‘State of fear: the truth about terrorism‘ to be screened at 6pm on Sunday 5 October 2008. The film will be introduced by Hicham and Rizwaan and will feature a question and answer session after the screening.

Three further films will be screened:

Sunday 12 October at 6pm: ‘Standard Operating Proceedure‘ introduced by Professor Alex Danchev (University of Nottingham)

Sunday 19 October at 6pm: ‘The Edge of Heaven’ (Auf der anderen Seite) introduced by Dr Alex Vasudevan (University of Nottngham)

Sunday 26 October at 6pm: ‘Elite Squad’ (Tropa de Elite) introduced by Professor Else Vieira (Queen Mary, University of London).

Tickets are available from the Broadway Cinema. Tickets cost £3 for students.

A pdf poster advertising the film series is available here.

The Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (Politics) and the Centre for Research on Identities, Citizenship and Migration (Sociology and Social Policy) are holding a round table event on Wednesday 1st October, 4-6 pm, in Law & Social Science Building, B62.

The round table seeks to address with staff and students important questions of academic freedom under the anti-terrorism legislation, and broader meaning of academic freedom today.

Bill Rammell, higher education minister has affirmed that ‘Academics and students alike must be free to go where their intellects lead.’ But there appears to be confusion over the meaning of academic freedom today, and how academic freedom sits with the anti-terrorism legislation. What is the current state of the law on academic freedom? Does the law or official advice need to be clarified? Should ethics committees play a greater role? Or are there other ways of thinking about academic freedom?

The round table will be divided into two parts. Part I will have three short presentations on lessons from the Nottingham arrest cases from a student representative, an academic representative and a university management representative, followed by 30 minutes discussion. Part II will address academic freedome more generally with presentations from Professor Tim Birtwistle, Professor of Law and Higher Education at the Leeds Law School and Dr Dennis Hayes from Academics for Academic Freedom, followed by another 30 minutes discussion.

A poster advertising the roundtable is available here.

The Free Hich campaign has launched an exciting programme of events, including seminars, talks, discussions, exhibitions, entertainment and sports tournaments. These events have been organised to raise awareness of the issues surrounding Hicham’s arrest, detention and attempted deportation, such as academic freedom, immigration, the war on terror, civil liberties, and detention with charge. They have also been organised to raise funds for Hicham’s ongoing legal campaign against the Home Office.

Click here to see a list of upcoming events.

Rizwaan Sabir

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday September 16 2008 14:30 BST

For millions of people in the UK, anti-terror legislation is rather distant, its finer points discussed only by politicians, specialist lawyers and the like. We hear about attempts to introduce tough laws; we hear about new arrests, and we get on with our lives. But for my friend Hicham and me, the force of the new anti-terror legislation suddenly became a harsh reality. Our arrests have implications for the rights of individuals in Britain to read legally available open-source documents free from the fear of arrest. [Read more →]

Rizwaan Sabir, the postgraduate student of politics who was arrested with Hicham for his research on political extremism, has given an interview to CNN about the circumstances and consequences of their arrests.

Jo Glanville writes on the Index of Censorship:

“The problem with this kind of terrorism prevention is that it constrains us all. There is no room for intellectual curiosity, for flirting with unfashionable ideology or even for engaging in serious research on the topic: Rizwaan Sabir and Hicham Yezza were reported to the police by their own university and detained for six days last May. Sabir had been studying extremism and had asked Yezza to print out a document for him.

Such is the culture of fear and confusion that he was not even safe to do his research in a centre of academic freedom. There can be no better example of how counter terrorism has pervaded our culture — and of the damage caused by such a broadly defined offence.” [Read more →]