Student researching al-Qaida tactics held for six days

I am afraid of this sort of thing happening in the US too.
The University's response to the student petitions was a little confusing and seemed to accuse Sabir of spreading the document when all he did was ask a mentor to print it out for him.
How is the government going to learn about terrorism when they torture and detain those academics who are willing to study it? It seems like another instance of a western government making their own mission more difficult.

This is a serious issue when students are being contained and sentenced to such atrocities. It's interesting how there is "no torturing" going on because its a crime, but of course there is no real rule book when it comes to these things. This is a statement and great information to students planning on traveling abroad. The road can be difficult due to the world conflicts going on today. And as for the western government, they need to really get their priorities together, where capturing students, what about "real terrorists" they speak of?

The only Al Qaeda manual I could find from a US gov website is here:
usdoj.gov/ag/manualpart1_1.pdf
but it's only 28 pages. Where did this guy find a 1,500 page manual?

So essentially, he's getting in trouble for being nosey.

Creepy.

Ya, the corrupt government agency was afraid they were being studied.

During the Cold War when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan the CIA poured weapons and billions of tax payer money into the hands of the very 'extremist' we are fighting today. That is the only truth.

The knowledge you seek will now be filtered by the skin you wear. Should your skin be the same color as those that terrorism is linked with you shall not do research about terrorist for you are trying to become one. Should your skin be snow white then there is no way you could become a terrorist and therefore can research what you please. You have now been warn. Tread lightly.

No wonder we don't have any good investigative reporting. This must be a clue as to how they are silenced or somehow mysteriously disappear...even the white ones...

"The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaida training manual from a US government website for his research into terrorist tactics." - The Guardian

"On Tuesday they read me a statement confirming it was an illegal document which shouldn't be used for research purposes. To this day no one has ever clarified that point." - Rizwaan Sabir

If the document is illegal and is not intended for research purposes, what the hell is it doing on a US government website accessible to everyone? (I am assuming its not secured since he was not charged with anything suggesting that he obtained the document through illegal means).

Another case of government stupidity. Do they honestly think that terrorists print handbooks in their local Kwik Kall and send each other e-mails with subject lines "The next bombing target..."?

Mulcahey: There's also

http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/manualpart1_2.pdf
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/manualpart1_3.pdf
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/manualpart1_4.pdf

though it's still nowhere near 1500 pages though.

Cryptome has a little bit of information about the document:

http://cryptome.org/alq-terr-man.htm

I have a feeling that he didn't get the 1500 page version from a US government web site. Some versions of this story state that the document is available on the doj site, but fails to mention that this document is not an exact translation of the original, so perhaps that mutated into: he got it from a us govt site. I have pretty low expectations when it comes to journalistic integrity though.

All that aside, this is deplorable. After September 11, our government has really been trying to push this whole idea that our freedom can be protected if it's taken away from us and locked up some place safe, and it's absolutely ridiculous.

Honestly I believe they didn't want him to find a crack in their story.

I did research for a class on Nuclear Terrorism once...I'm sure I'm on some watch list in W's office.

Now they're deporting him even though he's been cleared of the initial charges -

http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=134233&command=displayContent&sourceNode=133984&contentPK=20707668&folderPk=78481&pNodeId=133952

...sounds like they're using the gov. website as bait for unsuspecting terrorist...like you were saying...duuuhhh! Is this the normal level of competency in our government..? Or, maybe this was just another directive from the W, so that it looks like they're catching the scary terrorists...

they don't won't the truth to come out. that is that al qaida is a low level resistance group the highest technology they have is a freaking carbomb yet somehow they can kill us all, take away our freedom, and rape our women. they want us to belive that in countries with no powerlines, no running water, no tanks, no subs, no jets, no tv, no music can wage a respectable war against the U.S. I'm not buying it

Torture is unlawful, but even then, it is still undefined apparently. So how do you give something with no outline any regulations or rules.

It's simple. There is no money or Western advancement (NWO) in capturing and ending terrorists and terrorism. The "enemy" must be alive and well for the plan to work. So we have what we had here.....a scapegoat, a shiny distraction to buy time through the media. It is all marketed propaganda. If there is no one to hunt, there is no reason to occupy other countries, and then there is no war.....and no war means no economy for the US. We make nothing else in abundance anymore accept war. It is our chief export!

i agree with greg_bunker, interrogated cleared of charges deported, i wonder what was in that document they don't want an academic analyst to see.

Nice, I agree. He was getting too close to the truth of how close out government is with Al-Qaida. Ha!

This saddens me to no small measure. An investigation into the Al-Qaeda is something everyone does. Why, this man? As a student of the universe, everything is of value in some way. Reminds me of communism...stifle the mind and you stifle the spirit

Wow, this is scary. Very McCarthy - Red Scare like.

didn't anybody learn anything from cointelpro???

The government security agencies rarely follow elected government's orders nor do they provide much security. The "any means to an end" philosophy is there slogan.
Each is a cult with very well trained, dedicated and fanatic adherents. Many of the agents and soldiers in their armies cannot tolerate threats or questions. Those who do question them are punished as quickly and severely as possible. They only give out information they deem acceptable for public release, and even then it is still a matter of the gauntlet of National Security. If a researcher is delving into areas these agencies have already classified, such as news magazines, newspapers, popular and even books of fiction, they will go after those people who so misbehave. Intelligence is a strange field in which 'normal' people are not drawn or stay with. They usually have very specific good and bad qualities the agencies are looking for. If someone tells you that you have to be super-educated, super-intelligent, super- patriotic or super-strong, its just not true. In fact, it used to be a mandatory requirement that all FBI Special Agents have either a Law or Accounting graduate degree. Now many agents qualify themselves by taking a special CPA course by mail at a not-so-difficult college where the only aim is to get the minimum qualifications. There are very few lawyers and genuine practiced CPAs anymore. I think most are former military. The CIA is so desperate it advertises in the want ads of large city newspapers. The NSA is still stalwart and comes to colleges and recruits Computer Science and Combinational Mathematics graduates. They look at the graduate's highest offer, come to him or her and say, "We'll offer you twice as much and a job for life with all the perks: Best free health care, impossibly low housing and car loans, a huge sign-on bonus and a lot more. Sign here and pack up your gear." These folks get to work on the tip top stuff with the most mongfrucious computers in the world, a few using Quantum Programming OSs. The others are just making things, for the most part, worse and making us miserable.
Senate Inquiry with CIA Director:
Sen: Would you please tell our panel about the details of the event(s)?
DCIA: No.
Sen: No? You have to. Answer or be held in contempt.
DCIA: I can't because of National Security and the fact that Congress and the President gave us the power to withhold information if we deemed it would jeopardize the nation's security. (1952) If I violate that I would be tried as a traitor.

The panel asked several more questions and the DCIA scooted around or refused. The panel adjourned early and everybody left.

This is an actual happening that was on radio, TV and many newspapers. I think the panel was held sometime in the 1970s.

Added: "The major purpose of any beaurocracy is to ensure its survival, growth and power."- paraphrased from C. Northcote Parkinson's book "Parkinson's Law."