RINF.COM: HET BREKENDE ALTERNATIEF VAN HET NIEUWS
Woensdag, 11 Juni, 2008
RINF.COM: HET BREKENDE ALTERNATIEF VAN HET NIEUWS
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de 42 dagdetentie - `het werkelijk is psychologische marteling'
Woensdag, 11 Juni, 2008
Door Lee Glendinning | Een „minuut gaat als een uur en een uur zoals een dag binnen een cel… U verliest al concept dag of nacht. Er zijn geen emoties: u kunt niet schreeuwen, kunt u niet lachen… „Zes dagen die als zes jaar worden gevoeld. Ik vrees om te denken wat 42 dagen als zouden voelen: 28 dagen is ruw genoeg… het idee van 42 dagen is fenomenaal. Het „ironische ding is, pedofielen, moordenaars, bankrovers, worden de ontvoerders en extortionists gehouden vier dagen - 96 uren maximumtijd. En de verschrikkingsverdachten zijn gelijk aan elk van die.“ Rizwaan Sabir, 23, een student bij de Universiteit van Nottingham, vond zich vorige maand vastgehouden in een afgezonderde en geïsoleerden gevangenisvleugel, gearresteerd en gehouden in het kader van het Akte van het Terrorisme na het aankomen bij universitair en het inhalen een vriend voor koffie. zes dagen, werd hij gehouden in gevangenis zonder last, onder het toezicht van 24 uur en werd ondervraagd dagelijks over zijn meningen over al-Qaida en Islamitische literatuur. Het was een onderwerp dicht bij zijn hart. Vier vroeger maanden, had Rizwaan, die zijn meesters in internationale relaties deed, op een document al-Qaida online terwijl het onderzoeken van zijn verhandeling geklikt, die zich op het verschil tussen diverse militaire organisaties concentreerde. Het document was een uitgegeven versie van het al-Qaida opleidingshandboek, die van een V.S.- overheidswebsite wordt gedownload. Na de voltooiing van een wezenlijke brok van het werk in Januari, verzond hij het document naar een collega, Hisham Yezza, 30, die aan campus werkten en toegang tot een vrije printer hadden. Op de ochtend van 14 Mei, kon Rizwaan geen idee dat gehad hebben zijn volgende week in een cel worden doorgebracht, die van de commissie en de voorbereiding van een handeling van terrorisme wordt beschuldigd, de kwestie van of hij worden geladen of niet hangend in het saldo. „Na de koffie zette ik neer mijn materiaal en liep in gents. Zodra ik binnen liep, waren er drie politieagenten achter me die `zegt zich beweegt niet! Me beweeg niet! Who is u?' En ik was als, `ik een student ben. Who is u?' „Zij zeiden: ‘Well, we are police officers looking for someone who matches your description.”’ Shortly afterwards, they arrested him under section 41 of the Terrorism Act for the alleged commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism; Hisham Yezza had been arrested 10 minutes beforehand. When Rizwaan reached the police station, the second floor had been entirely sealed off. It was, he said, like some form of solitary confinement. “The restricted access made me feel like a real criminal. It felt like I was in the seventies - the lights were off and there was one table; all the cells were empty. I thought, ‘What the hell is going on here?’” For the first 48 hours, he was told nothing, but was placed under 24-hour surveillance. ”They watched everything you did and wrote it down. I would read a book and they would write down what I was reading. They would follow me when I had a shower and stand right there. You couldn’t take one step out of the cell without someone following you. They would stop and do random searches of the cell. It was so humiliating “Day six was the hardest. Knowing your life depends on a decision that someone else takes … when you have done something with the most clean-hearted intention. It really is psychological torture.” Officers from the West Midlands counter-terrorism branch told him they were searching his car, computer and the family home, making him feel panicked about his family’s reaction. His mother, father, grandmother and two siblings were at home in the suburbs of Nottingham. His colleagues on campus were also questioned in relation to the investigation, with the focus on whether he had a girlfriend, whether he drank alcohol and whether he had always worn a beard. “They were quizzed by police for five hours … they said to my personal tutor that if this had been a young, blond, Swedish PhD student, then this would never have happened. The investigating officers were making these statements when I was detention.” At one point, officers began asking him about tents they had found in his car, which he explained belonged to friends who had used them while taking part in a hunger strike. ”They found the tents and were trying to create an adverse influence. ‘Have you been camping?’ they asked ‘Are you planning to go camping? Have you been paintballing? Are you planning to go paintballing?”’ On the sixth day, without realising his freedom was imminent, he was told by a female police officer that the document he had looked at was deemed illegitimate for research purposes by the university, and if he ever looked at it again he could face further detention. He believed he was about to be charged. He said: “It was breaking … absolutely terrifying, I was sitting there thinking, ‘God, am I ever going to get out of here?’” When told he was to be released without charge, he walked into the room to speak with his solicitor. “I was shaking so violently I fell to the floor. I went back to the room and just cried and cried … Somehow, I had managed to get my emotions back.” Returning home to his family was traumatic in its own way: the house, he said, no longer felt like the home he knew. It had been searched, his belongings had been taken, his room felt like it had been rummaged through, and his home felt like it had been broken into. He still feels a sense of dread when he sees police or hears a siren. He thinks about the possibility he could have been charged, that he could be waiting right now on remand for a court date. He finds the idea of returning to study a difficult one - although it is what he wants - and is seeking counselling for an experience he says has scarred him deeply. Rizwaan’s colleague, Hisham Yezza, was also released without charge after six days, but he is now being held in a detention centre and contesting moves to deport him to Algeria. Concerned about what he calls the climate of fear the government has created in Britain, which he says has in turn prompted a society of suspicion, Rizwaan feels the UK is becoming a place that does not allow a natural interest and involvement in politicisation. “Police are paranoid that every Muslim who is young and has a beard and is slightly involved in politics is a national security threat,” he says. “I was a regular student who was researching a phenomenon we encounter in today’s society.” About this articleThis article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday June 11 2008. It was last updated at 01:11 on June 11 2008. See More:UK NewsHave Your Say: 42-day detention - ‘It really is psychological torture’ Please note, only selected comments will be published. Or discuss this report in our new forums This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 11:35 am and is filed under War & Terrorism News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. |
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Met Afgevaardigden die vandaag over nieuw, sprak de grens van de 42 dag stemmen detentie voor verschrikkingsverdachten, Lee Glendinning aan een 23 éénjarigenstudent over wat het als in het kader van de bestaande terrorismewetgeving moet worden vastgehouden.
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