An investigation into the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit which arrested Nottingham student, Rizwaan Sabir, in 2008, has concluded that officers "made up" evidence against him.

Sabir was arrested for the possession of a document he had downloaded for his academic research. Terrorism expert and University of Nottingham lecturer, Rod Thornton, was interviewed by police about Sabir's studies but, he claims, was never asked about the documents themselves. Internal notes from a meeting of the Gold Group of detectives assigned to the case, however, reveal police quoting Thornton as believing the manual was a "tactical document", something that went on to become key evidence in the case against Sabir.

Dr Thornton's subsequent complaint that the police had misrepresented his evidence was upheld. The report of the standards unit of West Midlands police concludes that officers "made up what he said about the al-Qaida manual", effectively concluding that they fabricated evidence in the case against Sabir. The report also states that the Gold Group "incorrectly recorded" their conversation with Thornton. However, the standards board says that no officers will be investigated for misconduct. Thornton has referred the matter to the IPCC.

In an indication of how important the case was to the Home Office, the arrests were mentioned in a document released under the Freedom of Information Act entitled Islamist Terrorist Plots in Great Britain: Uncovering the Global Network, even though no charges were ever brought against the men arrested.

Thornton said: "The police were totally unprofessional. After their mistakes they tried to cover them up. I've seen some altered police notes, I've seen evidence made up. The whole thing seems to be a complete tissue of lies, starting from the cover up of their mistakes in the first place."

Sabir said: "I have known that the police lied and deceived in order to justify my arrest and treatment and this has now been proven.

"What should raise alarm bells is how and why the police think it is acceptable to make up information to send innocent Muslims to prison as terrorists. The onus is now on the IPCC to conduct a full and proper investigation into this matter."

Writing in Ceasefire magazine Sabir said: "The point is that abuses of Muslims (and increasingly political non-Muslims) are occurring on a daily basis yet go unnoticed. If you are not going to stand and fight today, when the Muslim (and increasingly wider) communities are being systematically and pro-actively targeted, then when will you?"

"Innocent people have been, are being, and will continue to be locked away unjustly and have their rights violated for reasons that will only fully become clear in history book, if at all.  But it doesn’t need to be so. We must remember that until we all take a firm decision to get active and get involved, this will continue to remain an issue, even if it continues to be portrayed as a marginal nuisance affecting a minority."