Audio from the meeting of the The London Campaign to support the North West 10, foreign students who were arrested under Terror Laws and most of whom are now in prison, despite there being no evidence against them, met at the Khalili Lecture theatre at SOAS on Thursday 2nd July.
Speakers included Tariq Mehmood, one of the 'Bradford 12', Gareth Peirce - Human Rights Solicitor, Dorothy Wright of UCU, Asim Qureshi of Cage Prisoners and Rizwan Sabir, arrested with Hicham Yezza at Nottingham University.
The speeches outlined a litany of erosions of civil liberties and academic freedom, with dire warnings about the rise of islamophobia that has been a product of the so-called war on terror.
Within three weeks, having found no evidence against the North West 10, the prisoners were handed over to the immigration authorities and remain in prison as Category A prisoners, with the exception of one, a widower who elected to return to Pakistan to care for his children. The detained are awaiting bail hearings with the SIAC, but neither they, nor their lawyers are privy to what the allegations against them were, or why they are now considered a threat to the UK state.
Previous reports:
Politically Timed "Terror" Arrests - the Real Bob Quick Scandal | The “anti-terror” arrests in northwest England: what really lies behind them?