http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=56346
Student claims he was targeted by AFP 17:59 AEST Tue Jul 26 2005 AAP A Melbourne university student specialising in martyrdom and terrorism says he was unfairly targeted by federal police because he has a Muslim name. The student, who is known only by his first name of Abraham, converted to Islam three years ago and has been studying for an honours degree in politics at Monash University. He was visited at home last week by an Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer who quizzed him about books he purchased and borrowed from the library as part of his studies. Abraham said the books were on the recommended reading list for his course and dozens of other students were studying the same subjects. He believes he has been targeted because his name suggests he has a non-English speaking background. "I think it's unjustified and unfair," he told ABC radio. "It also sends a message unfortunately to the Muslim community that if they're dealing with the Australian Federal Police authorities that possibly they could be targeted, they could be harassed for any information. "And quite ironic is my studies are involved in obviously preventing these actions from occurring and they're drawing a linkage with that and saying 'okay, well you might be a terrorist'." But the AFP denied it targeted Abraham because of his name and said it only questioned him after receiving information from the public. "The AFP can confirm they spoke to a man in Melbourne last week as a result of information received from the public," an AFP spokeswoman said. "The AFP assessed that the information received warranted further inquiries. "The man is not considered of interest to police and no further action will be taken." The spokeswoman said the AFP would continue to respond to information received from the public but would not show prejudice due to a person's ethnicity or religion. "The AFP has and will continue to respond to information received from the public and where appropriate undertake inquiries in relation to allegations of criminal activities," she said. "The AFP conducts inquiries into allegations of criminal activities irrespective of any person's ethnicity or religious beliefs." Abraham's lecturer David Wright-Neville said he has warned his other students they could also face scrutiny by security agencies. "It's happened to one, and I think that all students, if they're going to be studying this subject, need to be made aware that based on the experience of last week that they might also be targeted by the authorities who might be curious about what they're doing," he said. -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
