By Elham Asaad Buaras
Rizwaan Sabir
Restricted police documents connected to the University of Nottingham anti-terror arrests reveal that the police “made up” evidence against a Muslim university student who was falsely detained without charge in May 2008 as a terror suspect. In another revelation, The Muslim News has seen a document in which a former counter-terror chief says that the same student would have been charged today under “resolved” terror laws.
The document from West Midlands police’s internal investigation concluded that officers made-up key parts of the case against Rizwaan Sabir who spent seven days in prison before being released without charge for downloading a document available from a US Government website along with reputable book retailers.
Sabir was researching terrorism for his Masters in 2008 when he downloaded the al-Qa’ida training manual. For this act alone Sabir was detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 on suspicion of being involved in the “commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.”
In another document exclusively obtained by The Muslim News, the former Head of West Midlands Counter-Terrorism Unit admits that the Crown Prosecution Service did not charge Sabir at the time due to a now defunct technicality.
In a meeting held last August, Det Chief Supt Matt Sawers told a University of Warwick researcher that Sabir was not charged because “at the time there was significant uncertainty due to other cases” involving Section 58 of Terrorism Act.
“Today those issues have been resolved and were the incident to occur again, charges would be brought under similar circumstances [against Sabir],” said Sawers.
Sabir told The Muslim News he was “flabbergasted” by Sawers’ confession.
“The law has now been cleared upso the police could charge me as a terrorist. This is irrespective of the fact that I am an innocent person, it shows that the police are not interested in a person’s innocence or guilt when they are accused of being a terrorist,” Sabir said.
The internal investigation into the affair was launched after a complaint by a former lecturer at the University’s School of Politics, Dr Rod Thornton, over the police’s handing of the case.
The police’s internal investigation concluded that officers “made up what he [Dr Rod Thornton] said about the al-Qaida manual” in a police interview.
During the interview Thornton said that he told police that Sabir was studying al-Qa’ida, but says that officers invented claims that he had concerns over the manual in an apparent attempt to justify Sabir’s arrest.
It also states that the actual minutes of the Gold Group meeting of the detectives assigned to the case “incorrectly recorded” their conversation with Thornton.
Internal notes from the Gold Group meeting on May 17 2008 actually reveal police quoting Dr Thornton as believing the manual was a “tactical document” and could not be considered relevant to Sabir’s academic research into terrorism.
Dr Thornton has now referred the police treatment of him to the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPPC). The Police Standards Board, however, says that no officers will be investigated for misconduct. Dr 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.”
A spokesman for the IPCC confirmed to The Muslim News that they have received an appeal from Dr Thornton in relation to the West Midlands Police investigation into his complaint and “are presently gathering material to consider the appeal.”
The IPCC clarified that their role would be restricted to reviewing “the manner in which the police carried out the investigation to consider whether it was done appropriately, rather than re-investigate the complaint itself.”
West Midland Police Chief Inspector, Julian Harper, from the force’s Professional Standards Department, said: “The complaints were thoroughly investigated by West Midlands Police’s Professional Standards Department and a detailed report of the findings was sent to the complainant on March 26.
“While certain aspects of his complaint were upheld, investigating officers found there was no case to answer in respect of misconduct.
“As is standard practice, we advised the complainant that he could appeal this decision through the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
“As he has chosen to take this course of action, it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further while the IPCC carry out their assessment.”
Sabir said West Midland Police conclusion that fabricated evidence does not warrant any disciplinary action was an indictment of a culture of impunity for police in the UK.
“It’s a simple reinforcement of the fact that UK police can go around doing as they wish without ever being held to account,” he said.
Sabir said trust could only be fully reinstated between the Muslim community and the police once an independent inquiry into the case takes place.
He also called for an apology to be issued by West Midlands Police and Nottinghamshire Police “for the way we have all been treated.”
The latest revelations have spread into other high profile terror cases involving British Muslims.
Britain’s longest detained without charge prisoner, Babar Ahmad, tweeted to Sabir: “they [the police] made it up for you & in my case, sent it to US. We are both British Muslims detained w/o charge, you for 1wk, me for 8yrs.”
No comments:
Post a Comment