Via Samizdata, this seems to be a quite appalling story. The Guardian reports that:
A masters student researching terrorist tactics who was arrested and detained for six days after his university informed police about al-Qaida-related material he downloaded has spoken of the “psychological torture” he endured in custody.
Despite his Nottingham University supervisors insisting the materials were directly relevant to his research, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, was held for nearly a week under the Terrorism Act, accused of downloading the materials for illegal use. The student had obtained a copy of the al-Qaida training manual from a US government website for his research into terrorist tactics.
Mind you, I don’t think there’s any real reason to suppose that the Tories, had they been charged with mismanaging affairs these past ten years, would have been very much, if at all, more sympathetic to civil liberties than “New” Labour has been.
According to Mr Sabir:
they read me a statement confirming it was an illegal document which shouldn’t be used for research purposes.
Britain’s best politics newsletters
You get two free articles each week when you sign up to The Spectator’s emails.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in