CAUT | ACPPU
Canadian Association of University Teachers
| CAUT protests arrest of Algerian Hicham Yezza by British authorities |
| (Tuesday, June 03, 2008)
- CAUT has joined growing protests over the arrest of Algerian Hicham Yezza, who was detained under Britain’s Terrorism Act and ordered deported, after printing off an al-Qaida training manual from a U.S. government web site. The deportation has since been put on hold after Yezza’s lawyer filed an application before the High Court in London seeking a judicial review of the matter. Yezza, 30, is an employee of the University of Nottingham, and was arrested there May 14 along with postgraduate student Rizwaan Sabir, on suspicion of possessing extremist material. The two had printed off the freely available document to help Sabir in his research about the American approach in Iraq. Both men were released without charge May 20, but Yezza was picked up again and remains in custody in a deportation centre on suspicion of an immigration offence. CAUT has sent a letter to UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown decrying Yezza’s continued incarceration, and urging his release. “Yezza’s arrest throws a cold chill over academic freedom in the UK,” said CAUT executive director Jim Turk. “That students and teachers can be accused of terrorism for nothing more than printing off a free document from the Internet is truly frightening.” Hundreds of students, professors and other supporters held a protest at the university over the situation, and Facebook groups and a web site — Free HichamYezza — have sprung up online, urging a letter-writing campaign to Britain’s Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Yezza’s behalf. Yezza has lived in the UK for 13 years, during which time he earned graduate and post-graduate degrees, eventually joining the staff at the university. |
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