Facing deportation for researching al Qaeda

The book is on sale on Amazon.com

A university administrator in the UK is facing deportation after printing out an al Qaeda training manual for a student studying Islamic extremism. Here, his friends say that the Algerian national, who has lived in England for 13 years, has been targeted because he's Muslim.

The Nottingham University worker, Hicham Yezza, 30, was asked to print out the document by a masters degree student researching Islamic extremism. A university worker reported the incident to the police and both Hicham and the student, Rizwaan Sabir, 22, were arrested on campus on May 14 under the Terrorism Act 2000. After six days in detention the pair were released without charge. However, immediately after, Hicham was rearrested and served with a deportation order because of a problem with his application for UK residency. Despite huge criticism from politicians and the British press, who believe that the order is a smokescreen for the original police blunder, Hicham could be deported back to Algeria as early as Sunday if the order is not repealed.

The "Free Hich" campaign poster

Posted on the campaign's website. There's also a Facebook group against his deportation which already has over 2,000 members.

The al Qaeda training manual

The original copy of the 1,500 page document in question was originally discovered by Manchester Metropolitan Police in a home raid and later published on a US government website, which Rizwaan downloaded it from. It is also available on Amazon in a book form for £16.95 (€21). Entitled "The al Qaeda Training Manual", it gives guidance on how best to act as a martyr of Jihad. Those suitable for the task are expected to be obedient, free of illness, "unflappable", patient, intelligent and insightful. The orders include making "[the rulers'] women widows and their children orphans" and "to slaughter them like lambs'. The manual rebuffs "peaceful solutions", saying that Islamic governments will be "established by pen and gun, by word and bullet, by tongue and teeth". Instructions include details on the forging of documents, gathering information, transport, currency, the "blasting" of public places and the long term goal of establishing an Islamic state. You can read the file in full here.

"The usual reaction was 'you don't belong here'"

Hich gave his account of events from Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre, where he is waiting to be deported.

When I was first arrested I tried to explain that this was obviously a huge misunderstanding, not to mention a monumental waste of time. I was treated well by custody officers, especially after they got to know me; the usual reaction was "you don't belong here". Being in custody is a harrowing experience but I managed to get through it by keeping my mind busy with reading and writing.

I love Britain. I have always done my best to combat extremism here. I realize the police have a difficult job to do and I am by no means a conspiracy theorist, but I really feel that my political activism [Hich is a prominent human rights protester] over the past few years has factored as a major reason for the enquiry to take as long as it did. I hope that this isn't an indication of a wider trend that sees political activism as another subversive phenomenon in itself. This would really be a great disservice to the tradition of freedom of speech that the British people have fought so long and hard to achieve."

"This document is even on the university’s politics reading list"

Gearóid Ó Cuinn, who is currently studying for a PhD in human rights at Nottingham University, is a close friend of Hich Yezza.

The guy is an incredible person and we can't understand how this could happen to him. He was actually on campus when the police arrived and asked him to step outside. While both he and Rizwaan were kept for six days, this all could have been sorted out with one phone call to the student's supervisor. Then the police would have found out that this document is freely available online and even on the university's politics reading list! Like people say, there is no smoke without fire, and in this case, the fire is that Hich is a Muslim. If he'd been white there would have been no problem."