UK Anti-terror Law Shatters Muslim Life
— For Hicham Yezza, May 14 is a day he can never forget. It was the day his life and his family's were shattered because of Britain's draconian anti-terror laws.
"Aspects of my life that would have been seen as commendable in others were suddenly viewed as suspect in my case for no apparent reason other than my religious and ethnic background," Yezza writes in an article in the Guardian on Monday, August 18.
"I was guilty of being that strangest of creatures: a Muslim who reads; who studied engineering yet writes about Bob Dylan; was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war yet owns all of Christopher Hitchens' writings; admires Terry Eagleton yet defends Martin Amis; interviews Kazuo Ishiguro, listens to Leonard Cohen, goes to Radiohead concerts, all of which became the subject of rather bizarre questioning."
The Algerian-born was arrested on suspicion of "instigating, preparing and commissioning" acts of terrorism.
The charges revolve around his possession of a document called "Al-Qaeda Training Manual" which a friend of his downloaded from the internet.
"Rizwaan Sabir, a politics student friend of mine (who was also arrested), had downloaded the file from the US Justice Department website while conducting research on terrorism for his upcoming PhD.
"An extended version of the same document (which figures on the politics department's official reading list) was also available on Amazon."
Sabir sent a copy of the document to Yezza, who edits a political magazine, as he usually does with all his research materials.
"I underwent 20 hours of vigorous interrogation while entire days were being completely wasted by the police micro-examining every detail of my life: my political activism, my writings, my work in theatre and dance, my love life, my photography, my cartooning, my magazine subscriptions, my bus tickets."
Shattered
After six days in custody, Yezza was released without charges.
But his life has never become the same.
"Lives are shattered, jobs are lost, marriages are destroyed, minds are damaged, friends and families are traumatized - often irrevocably so," he writes.
"My parents, whom I wasn't allowed to call, could barely get any sleep throughout the ordeal. Many of my Muslim university friends were, and still are, worried about being targeted themselves," he adds.
"For most of my loved ones, despite my innocence, nothing will ever be the same again," laments Yezza.
"I'm now jobless, facing destitution and threatened with deportation from the country I've called home for nearly half my life."
British Muslims, estimated at 2 million, have taken the full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 terrorist attacks.
They have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by police for no apparent reason other than being Muslim.
Continuous police crackdowns, searches and arrests have entrenched fear in the Muslim minority of being singled out and targeted.
Last month, the UN human rights committee disparaged Britain over growing anti-Muslim sentiments, urging a review of its draconian anti-terror measures.
"Fighting terrorism is a serious matter and needs to be tackled in a serious way - not through empty gimmicks sustained by fear-mongering and alarmist rhetoric," insists Yezza.
"The real danger is that we are witnessing a slide from the essential purity of habeas corpus into a Britain where the innocent are detained until proven guilty."
Source: Islam Online
"I was guilty of being that strangest of creatures: a Muslim who reads; who studied engineering yet writes about Bob Dylan; was a vocal opponent of the Iraq war yet owns all of Christopher Hitchens' writings; admires Terry Eagleton yet defends Martin Amis; interviews Kazuo Ishiguro, listens to Leonard Cohen, goes to Radiohead concerts, all of which became the subject of rather bizarre questioning."
The Algerian-born was arrested on suspicion of "instigating, preparing and commissioning" acts of terrorism.
The charges revolve around his possession of a document called "Al-Qaeda Training Manual" which a friend of his downloaded from the internet.
"Rizwaan Sabir, a politics student friend of mine (who was also arrested), had downloaded the file from the US Justice Department website while conducting research on terrorism for his upcoming PhD.
"An extended version of the same document (which figures on the politics department's official reading list) was also available on Amazon."
Sabir sent a copy of the document to Yezza, who edits a political magazine, as he usually does with all his research materials.
"I underwent 20 hours of vigorous interrogation while entire days were being completely wasted by the police micro-examining every detail of my life: my political activism, my writings, my work in theatre and dance, my love life, my photography, my cartooning, my magazine subscriptions, my bus tickets."
Shattered
After six days in custody, Yezza was released without charges.
But his life has never become the same.
"Lives are shattered, jobs are lost, marriages are destroyed, minds are damaged, friends and families are traumatized - often irrevocably so," he writes.
"My parents, whom I wasn't allowed to call, could barely get any sleep throughout the ordeal. Many of my Muslim university friends were, and still are, worried about being targeted themselves," he adds.
"For most of my loved ones, despite my innocence, nothing will ever be the same again," laments Yezza.
"I'm now jobless, facing destitution and threatened with deportation from the country I've called home for nearly half my life."
British Muslims, estimated at 2 million, have taken the full brunt of anti-terror laws since the 7/7 terrorist attacks.
They have repeatedly complained of maltreatment by police for no apparent reason other than being Muslim.
Continuous police crackdowns, searches and arrests have entrenched fear in the Muslim minority of being singled out and targeted.
Last month, the UN human rights committee disparaged Britain over growing anti-Muslim sentiments, urging a review of its draconian anti-terror measures.
"Fighting terrorism is a serious matter and needs to be tackled in a serious way - not through empty gimmicks sustained by fear-mongering and alarmist rhetoric," insists Yezza.
"The real danger is that we are witnessing a slide from the essential purity of habeas corpus into a Britain where the innocent are detained until proven guilty."
Source: Islam Online
