Britain: Hicham Yezza threatened with imminent deportation to Algeria

The Socialist Equality Party and its student organisation, the International Students for Social Equality, strongly condemns and opposes this attack on the democratic rights of Hicham Yezza including the denial of his fundamental right to due process. We call on all working people and students in Britain and internationally to demand an end to the attempt to deport him.

Yezza, an administrator at the University of Nottingham, and Rizwaan Sabir, a student, were both arrested on May 14 under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act on suspicion of the "instigation, preparation and commission of acts of terrorism". Sabir and Yezza were then subjected to a traumatic period of detention in police cells in which they faced hours of interrogation. The two were held for six days and then released without charge on May 20.

Yezza has lived, studied and worked in the UK for 13 years and currently resides in the city of Nottingham, East Midlands. Up until his arrest by the police, the authorities had never sought to challenge his right to live and work in the UK. He was at that time employed as a principal administrator in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Nottingham. Before this, he won a scholarship and studied for a masters and a PhD. He is a popular figure in Nottingham, with a broad network of friends at the university and in his local community where he has regularly organised and participated in cultural activities.

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