** URGENT APPEAL FOR HELP - FIND AYAZ AND TAHSEEN! **


Two medical students at the University of Birmingham have
disappeared without trace after being detained by the Israeli
authorities two weeks ago. After a period of no contact,
their families learnt that they had been held in an Israeli
prison but had now been released. The two have not been heard
from since their "release"; their families do not even
know where they were being held.

*****


The students, Ayaz Ghani and Tahseen Chaudhry, are both
British-born Muslim men travelling on British passports.
They are both aged 23 and in the fourth year of a degree in
medicine. They had spent some weeks in South Africa as part
of their elective courses and had planned for a long time to
do a tour of the Middle East before returning to Birmingham.

They had visited Syria and Lebanon before entering the West
Bank from Jordan. Apparently they were detained there by the
Israelis, but their families had no idea what had happened to
them. They finally phoned the Foreign Office in desperation,
to be told that they were in an Israeli jail. The Foreign
Office had apparently been informed of their detention
within 24 hours as required by law, but had not passed this
information on to the families. They still do not know which
Israeli prison the students were detained in or where they
were released.

Ayaz eventually telephoned his family on the morning of
4th June saying that they had been held in an Israeli
jail for 11 days without being allowed to inform anyone
of where they were. Ayaz also texted a friend to say that
they had been charged with terrorism and espionage but then
released, and were being deported to Jordan. Tahseen, like
Ayaz, was permitted a brief phone call to his family, but
as they both said "we will call you from Jordan" to their
families the phone was cut off.

Since their "release" on 4th June, there has been no further
contact and it is not known whether they have been re-arrested
in Israel or detained in Jordan or elsewhere. The two were
due to catch a flight from Damascus to Dubai on the evening
of Saturday 7th June but they were not on the flight.

Samina, Tahseen's sister, also a former student of Birmingham
University, said: " It is extremely distressing not to know
what the physical and mental state of a member of your family
is after being detained for such a long period. We are
extremely disappointed that the Foreign Office has given us
no help whatsoever. These two boys are lost between two
countries. Nobody knows where they are. Both are known to
be hard-working students. They have just over a year to
become fully-qualified doctors. They have never committed
any offence. They are just two students who enjoy travelling."



QUESTIONS NEEDING URGENT ANSWERS:


1. Where are Ayaz and Tahseen now?

2. Why are they not being allowed to communicate with their
families and friends?

3. Who is responsible for their welfare?

4. Why did the Foreign Office not inform their families of
their detention in Israel for 11 days?

5. Why was the British Embassy not given access to them?

6. In which Israeli jail were they being held?

7. Were they formally charged with any offence? If so,
what offence and on what evidence?

8. Were they produced in a court of law to answer charges?

9. Were they at any time given access to a lawyer?

10. Where were they released and into whose custody?


WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1. If you are a student or member of staff at the University of
Birmingham, ask the University authorities what they are
doing to secure the release and safe return of their students.

Send a politely worded e-mail to David Allen, the Registrar and
Secretary of the University of Birmingham, at:  d.j.allen@bham.ac.uk


2. If you live in a Birmingham constituency, ask your Member of
Parliament to take up the above questions as a matter of
urgency. The Choudhrys' MP is Steve McCabe but his emergency
phone number is not publicly available so if anyone knows it
please contact him urgently.

To find your MP use one of the links on the following page:

 http://web.bham.ac.uk/sue_blackwell/politics/index.html#MPs


3. Write courteously but strongly worded letters of protest to
the following (letters to Ambassadors should begin "Your
Excellency"):


Tzvi Shtauber
Embassy of Israel
2 Palace Green
London
W8 4QB


Foreign and Commonwealth Office,
King Charles Street,
London SW1A 2AH


Jordanian Embassy
6 Upper Philimore Gardens

Phone: 44 (0)171 937 3685
Fax: 44 (0)171 937 8795

(If you have working e-mail addresses for any of the above please send
them to  s.a.blackwell@bham.ac.uk so that we can include them in future
mailings).

This appeal is being sent by the Birmingham University Palestinian Society
and the Birmingham University againST the War society (BUSTW), with the
agreement of the Choudhry family.

For further information contact:

Josie Sandercock (mobile:) 07817-554-814
Sue Blackwell (work, with voicemail:) 0121-414-3219.