Report: Justice for the Northwest 10 Campaign London Meeting (SOAS, 2 July)

In April this year, twelve students, one British and eleven Pakistani nationals, were arrested in anti-terror raids. As part of these high-profile arrests in what Gordon Brown claimed was a “very big plot”, the police combed the areas and homes they lived in and questioned their friends, communities and owners of the kebab shops the men frequented. They were all released without charge under the Terrorism Act 2000 but ten were shortly rearrested at the behest of the Borders Agency and are now facing deportation as they pose a “threat to national security”. The men are appealing their deportations, with the exception of one who decided to return to Pakistan in mid-June for family reasons. As “national security” is at stake, the use of secret evidence will be involved and the appeal will have to be made to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC). The students and their lawyers will not have access to this evidence and they may be deported never knowing the evidence against them. All nine remaining students are currently being held as Category A (high-risk) prisoners while awaiting their appeal hearing. At an initial hearing in May, lawyers for the government accused all the men of having links to Al Qaeda.

This attack on foreign students, who have not been tried, charged or know the evidence against them, led to the creation of the Justice for the North West 10 (J4NW10) Campaign at a public meeting in Manchester in May; “North West” referring to the fact that they all live in the northwest of England (Manchester/Merseyside) and hail from the Northwest Frontier province of Pakistan.

Attended by around 60 people, the London chapter of this national campaign held a public meeting to raise awareness about the case and related issues at SOAS on 2 July. Chaired by Jasbir Singh from the London campaign, after an introduction to the campaign and the background to the cases, phone messages from relatives of a couple of the students were played to the audience. The brother of one student, Abdul Wahab, told of how he had completed over 90% of his course at Liverpool John Moores University and that while he has never been charged, the family has only been told that he is being deported as he “poses a threat to national security”. The family had to sell land in Pakistan to enable him to come and study in the UK. He asked for the UK to consider the students’ cases properly and to allow them to complete their education. Although they have been held for nearly 3 months, the students have only recently been able to speak to their families in Pakistan on the phone.

Tariq Mahmood, from the Manchester campaign, labelled the treatment of these students as a chapter in the new “colonial war” of the “war on terror”: not only was the UK engaged in warfare against their communities in Pakistan but against them here as well in the UK. He stated that the communities these men hail from in the UK are afraid to get involved in the campaign for fear of similar things happening to them or their families. If they are “terrorists”, then they should be charged and tried according. He spoke also of the campaign of vilification against the Pakistani community in the UK and the criminalisation of young Muslims, both on and off campus. Last month he had travelled to Pakistan with another campaigner from Manchester where they held a meeting bringing together seven of the ten families, who are all from different parts of the country. This case has acted a catalyst bringing different people together and the campaign is continuing to grow strong.

Solicitor Gareth Peirce, whose firm is representing one of the students, described her client, currently held in prison in Manchester, as “having nothing to fear” and bearing “the hallmark of innocence”. She said that he does not know why he is being held or why he is being held as a category A prisoner alongside murderers and rapists. What he would like to do is clear his name of any association with terrorism. Others in a similar position are not able to return to their countries of origin as they would face torture there (Algeria, Jordan, Libya, etc.). She stated that the students would be in a better position if they had been prosecuted for terrorism by the police as they would then know the allegations against them. However, they can only apply for bail and appeal the deportation. Her client has applied for a judicial review of the decision not to grant him bail at a hearing last month. Mrs. Peirce called the use of secret evidence at SIAC a “weapon in the armoury of the State”. It is a concept “we [in this country] specialise in and we are seeking to export it”. She stated that due to their treatment, the communities these men come from, “suspect” communities, have good reason to be afraid given how they have been treated; however, this is also a good reason for the wider community to come to their help, particular as concerns bail. If these students are granted bail, they will need sureties, bail addresses and lots of support. This has to come from the whole community. The last four months has been a catastrophe for the lives of these young men and the “message we’re sending out is a catastrophe”.

Dorothy Wright, from the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) spoke of the support the union is showing these students, including a motion passed at its AGM, as well as the government’s attempts to get academics to spy on students and introduce a points-based system for foreign students, undermining UK academia and teacher-student relationships.

Asim Qureshi from Cageprisoners spoke of the “profiles” of suspect communities that have been created over the past 8 years, including that of the Pakistani community in the UK. Due to the political and media profile that has been created and propagated, certain individuals and communities are deemed naturally to be suspects on sight, which is clearly a racist policy. While Pakistanis as a suspect community is a fairly high-profile issue, he mentioned also the case of Muslims from East Africa, including British passport holders, who are frequently arrested or stopped at the airport when travelling to and from the region, particularly countries bordering Somalia. Many are travelling to the region for the first time and know nothing of the politics there.

Rizwan Sabir, a British student from Nottingham University, who was arrested and subsequently released along with a colleague, Hicham Yezza, last year, on terrorism charges spoke about the effects of this issue. He said that it was important to have a media campaign and to raise as much awareness as possible about the issue. Support needs to be shown for these students and everyone should do what they can to raise awareness of this injustice leading to the erosion of the civil liberties of all.

To get in touch with campaign, email  tangojuice@gmail.com or visit the website:  http://www.j4nw10.org/

The students next bail hearing will take place at SIAC at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 27 July. A protest is being planned at this hearing and the public is welcome to attend the hearing and witness the use of secret evidence in action.

CAMPACC (Campaign Against Criminalising Communities)
www.campacc.org.uk


More on this story:  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/433716.html
 http://www.j4nw10.org/ (video of meeting)