It’s been a busy time for Prevent. The past weeks have been awash with media stories of key Prevent successes. A high profile legal challenge to the government’s Prevent strategy was defeated at the High Court on 26 July 2017. In late 2016, Salman Butt took legal action against the government. His appeal for judicial […]
Continue readingTag Archives: Haitham Al-Haddad
Kingston VC’s comments on Prevent ignore the evidence
Professor Julius Weinberg, vice chancellor of Kingston University, has said university heads are “under a lot of pressure” not to criticise the government’s counter-radicalisation measures, collectively known as the Prevent strategy. Speaking at the University and College Union (UCU) congress in Liverpool last week, Mr Weinberg expressed his concerns Prevent might inhibit free speech and […]
Continue readingMoazzam Begg challenged at the University of Exeter
Here at Student Rights, we have often highlighted the need to ensure extremists face challenge on-campus, and encourage students to debate speakers with extreme and intolerant views. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen enough. Unbalanced platforms and hostile environments which suppress views different to the panellists often result in students’ voices being marginalised. On Tuesday, students at […]
Continue readingWestminster student named in Islamic State documents
Last week saw the publication of thousands of Islamic State (IS) documents reveal the name of another student from the University of Westminster who had travelled to Syria to fight alongside the terrorist group. The Telegraph has reported that the files include the details of 18 year old Mohammed Jackir Ali, who dropped out of […]
Continue readingMP writes to SOAS over extreme speaker events
Last week, it was reported that ‘Helping Households under Great Stress’ (HHUGS) had campaigned at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) during an event calling for the release of convicted terrorists. Journalists were given a card claiming Islamist terrorist Adel Abdel Bary was detained without charge, despite Bary’s 2014 conviction for his involvement […]
Continue readingConcerns raised about ethics at Bath
A blog post published last week, and highlighted by Harry’s Place, has shone fresh light on concerning academic practices at the University of Bath. Addressing research by Hilary Aked, a PhD student studying the ‘Israel lobby’, the blog claims an article written by Aked attacking a recent Israel advocacy day “used information provided in confidence […]
Continue readingExtreme speakers at genocide event
An event tonight hosted by the Islamic Society at Kingston University is due to feature Dr Uthman Lateef and Wasim Kempson; speakers that Student Rights has called attention to in the past. Entitled ‘Answer the Call’, and focusing on genocide in the Central African Republic, the event invites show extreme speakers continue to appear on […]
Continue readingBrothers Behind Bars event at SOAS
An event at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) last night saw speakers defend convicted terrorists including Munir Farooqi and Anis Sardar. Called ‘Brothers Behind Bars’, the event was organised by the SOAS Muslim Students Association and sought to focus on “the Plight of Muslim Prisoners in the ‘War on Terror’”. The panel […]
Continue readingSOAS speakers claim undermined by event history
Last week, following a government press release which ‘named and shamed’ several universities for hosting extreme speakers, one of the institutions identified hit back at these claims. Laura Gibbs, registrar of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), argued in a statement that the college had “not hosted any extremist speakers in the last […]
Continue readingOpen letter shows concerns about student campaign against Prevent
Last week saw an open letter published in the Independent which targeted the UK’s counter-radicalisation strategy, Prevent, and called for it to be scrapped. Signed by over 40 senior National Union of Students (NUS) and individual student union officers, the letter damned the policy as one which: “…reinforces an ‘us’ and ‘them’ view of the […]
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