Thanks to everyone who came to our ‘Back To Childhood’ party yesterday which was aimed at raising awareness of child soldiers. It was a fun night. There were many interesting and original costumes on display – the winner of the competition was Buzz Lightyear for effort and originality. Special mention to the two Indiana Joneses. It was great to see the effort people put into their costumes, and it gave the party a very fun atmosphere. We had a correct guess at how many sweeties were in the jar (611), and the raffle gave out six prizes. We hope the winners enjoy them.

Thanks to Rachel and everyone who organised the party, helped out, asked friends to come along, or even minded the door. Your work is appreciated.

We have two other big events coming up in the next week or two: we are having a sleep-out in front of the Wolfson Medical Building (to raise awareness of refugees); and a ceilidh, both of which we are doing in association with S.T.A.R. Watch this space for more information on both of these events.

YouTube access has been blocked in Pakistan for hosting material offensive to Islam.

Its telecommunications authority ordered internet service providers to block the site until further notice. Reports said the content included Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that have outraged many. However, one report said a trailer for a forthcoming film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, which portrays Islam in a negative light, was behind the ban.

Wahaj-us-Siraj, convener of the Association of Pakistan Internet Service Providers said:

“They asked us to ban it immediately… and the order says the ban will continue until further notice.”

Unfortunately, the method the ISPs used to block access to YouTube was said to affect users outside Pakistan, leading to a near worldwide outage.

Thanks to the BBC for the reports.

From the BBC, Fouad Mourtada has been jailed for 3 years and fined $1300 for creating a fake profile in the name of a Prince in the Royal Family.

In his defence, he said he admired the prince, and that the Facebook entry was just intended to be a bit of fun. A website supporting him published a letter addressed to the prince apologising for the incident. The letter, reportedly penned by Mr Mourtada’s family, requested clemency.
According to the website, he told family members who visited him in jail that he had been blindfolded and beaten unconscious at the time of his arrest.

“Fouad Mourtada, like thousands of people who create fake profiles of well-known personalities or celebrities on Facebook, has in no way acted in a willingness to cause nuisance to Your Highness, for whom he has always shown the greatest of respect.”

Earlier this week some Moroccan bloggers went “on strike“, suspending their regular blog entries for 24 hours in protest at Mr Mourtada’s detention.

Click here:
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Somehow don’t think that these are the only 2 that happened on British territory…

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7256587.stm

 However, it’s good to hear an admisison of guilt of some sort from the government.

A Hampstead businessman is being held in Dubai without charge over alleged drug offences. Cat Le-Huy, who is head of technology at Big Brother creator Endemol, was arrested as he arrived in Dubai on January 26. (source)

Having being transferred to prison after being held in the airport jail, authorities in Dubai said they found traces (0.03g) of hashish in a bag belonging to Cat Le-Huy, and are considering charging him with possession of an illegal substance. (more here)

This news comes less than a month after a man was imprisoned for 4 years for possession of 0.003g of hashish after a roll-up cigarette was found stuck to the bottom of his shoe. Cases like these are covered and helped by FairTrials.

Click to read minutes:

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We’ve previously discussed the decision on whether or not to extend the current 28-day detention-without-charge limit. Now, Sunny over at Liberal Conspiracy has put together a list (linked below) of Labour MPs who abstained or voted against the previous proposal to extend it to 90 days. MPs are listed by office address and constituency.

I would urge everyone to take the time to write a short email saying why you are against extending detention – and the 10 reasons laid out in a previous discussion are a good place to start. Let’s make sure they’re told!

The list of MPs, and thanks to Sunny

From The Scotsman:

A Scottish student jailed for terrorism-related offences last year hopes a Court of Appeal decision in England may help to free him. Five men jailed for similar crimes walked free yesterday. Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, sitting with two other judges, quashed their convictions and ordered their release.

(we covered this story too)

The ruling will be studied by lawyers planning an appeal against the conviction of Mohammed Atif Siddique, a Scottish student jailed for eight years for possessing and distributing terrorism-related materials on the internet.

Last night, Aamer Anwar, Siddique’s lawyer, said he would be meeting Imran Khan, the solicitor who represents the five freed men, within weeks. “This decision will be scrutinised by us to see if there are any implications,” Mr Anwar said.

As I commented previously, downloading such material should not be a crime. If there is an act of violence being planned, that can be prosecuted as the equivalent of “Conspiracy to commit X“.

Aamer Anwar is a human rights lawyer and a current candidate for the Rectorship of the University of Glasgow. He is expected to come and speak to the GU Amnesty International society next Tuesday at 6PM. He is facing charges of contempt of court for his defence of Siddique, which has lead to campaign to defend him.

Five British Muslim students jailed for downloading extremist material from the internet were released today, after the Appeal Court ruled their convictions were unsafe. The Lord Chief Justice said that although the evidence was clear that the five had accessed the jihadi websites and literature there was no proof of any terrorist intent, the BBC reports.

In a statement today via his solicitor, Malik said: “As I said when I was arrested, I do not, have not and will not support terrorism in any form against innocent people.

“My prosecution was a test case under the 2000 Terrorism Act. Today’s decision means no first year student can ever be prosecuted again under this Act for possessing extremist literature.”

Freeing the men, the Lord Chief Justice said there was no proof of terrorist intent. The lawyer for one said they had been jailed for a “thought crime”.

Critics inside the Muslim community and civil liberty campaigners say section 57 of the 2000 Terrorism Act has been used as a blunt instrument to prosecute young Muslim men where there is no proof of genuine links to terrorism. Imran Khan, solicitor for Mr Zafar, said the five had been prosecuted for “thought crime” and that the ruling would have an significant impact.

He said:

“Young Muslim men before this judgement could have been prosecuted simply for simply looking at any material on the basis that it might be connected in some way to terrorist purposes.”

The Islamic Human Rights Commission said it hoped Thursday’s judgement would stop the “criminalisation of Muslim youth for downloading and reading material that is widely available to everyone”.

Chairman Massoud Shadjareh said:

“Our anti terror strategy should target and bring to account those who plan criminal acts of terrorism. Instead individuals who write poetry, read blogs or download material from the internet are being targeted because of their ethnicity or religious affiliation.”

From the BBC, The Register and The Times Online.

Since this was a test case, it will hopefully have impacts on later cases. We may laugh and sigh at banning books (and rightly so), but the same thing is happening here. The lawyer said it was a thought crime, and so it was. Reading material of any sort should never be conflated with planning terrorism and it certainly should not be a crime.

“Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”
~Potter Stewart