A masters student arrested under the Terrorism Act was researching his dissertation, it has been revealed.
Rizwaan Sabir, 22, who is studying in the politics department at the University of Nottingham, was arrested on May 14 on suspicion of possessing extremist material.
Mr Sabir's lawyer Tayab Ali, said his client had downloaded an edited version of t
he al-Qaida handbook from a US Government website as part of his research.
He then sent the 1,500-page document to a 30-year-old member of staff who had access to a printer – and he was arrested too.
Both men were subsequently released without charge on May 20 after six days in custody.
Mr Ali criticised police and said: "Why did it take so long for the police to reach the conclusions they did?
"These are not unqualified police, they are the top counter-terrorism command for the region. They should know the difference between a book that is useful for terrorism and one that is not."
Academics have also expressed concern about the arrests.
Bettina Rentz, a lecturer in international security and Mr Sabir's personal tutor, told the Times Higher Education magazine: "This case is very worrying. The student downloaded publicly accessible information and provoked this very harsh reaction."
Alf Nilsen, a research fellow, accused the UK authorities of targeting non-Western students and staff, and saw it as is symptomatic of a general curtailment of civil liberties in the UK.
Students at Nottingham are circulating a petition asking for the university to guarantee that the freedom of academics and students will be protected.
It asks the university to acknowledge the "disproportionate response" to the possession of legitimate research materials.
A Nottinghamshire Police spokeswoman said that the decision to extend the time allowed for police to question the men was made by an experienced judge.
She said: "This case was handled in an extremely professional way and we have been complimented on the way it was managed by one of the men's legal representatives."
After his release under the Terrorism Act, the 30-year-old man was subsequently re-arrested and has been charged with a n offence under immigration legislation. He remains in custody.
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