dc0de wrote:

D Afifi writes "Two political researchers at the University of Nottingham, in the UK, have been arrested under the Terrorism Act for downloading Al-Qaida material from a US government website. The material was to be used for research in terrorist tactics. There has been a huge public outcry, with university staff planning a march to demonstrate against the attack on academic freedom. Yet, one of the students, an Algerian, is still held in custody under immigration charges and is being fast-tracked for deportation."

Can you say "McCarthyism"? I though you could...

Really, the parallels between McCarthyism and the "War on Terrorism" are too blatant to ignore. Why is it that our world leaders don't see this "witch hunt" too?

Having read some of this I'm not sure it isn't being blown out of proportion. There was an investigation into whether these guys were involved in terrorism. They weren't. There were no charges on that basis. Turned out one had overstayed his visa. If you overstay your visa and you have a runin with law enforcement there is a chance you might get deported. Its possible that there is more to this story, but its also possible that there isn't.

RE: Slashdot | UK Academics Arrested For Researching al-Qaida