The Civil Liberties project is a newly established project of the Federation of Student Islamic Societies (FOSIS).

The Civil Liberties project was set up in the Fall of 2009 to address the ever increasing concerns raised from students, student union officers, university staff and civil rights groups over the impact the UK’s anti terror laws and strategy are having on young people in the UK.

The main concern is over the impact this is having on innocent people rather than anyone who may have been apprehended due to any questionable activities they may be involved in.

• Monitor- to monitor the impact the UK’s anti terror laws and strategy are having on young people, particularly Muslims or those percieved to be so, in the UK and develop a series of case studies.
• Awareness- to raise awareness of the impact this is having on young people, their aspirations, integration, their welfare and mental health.
• Empower- to educate our members on their rights if stopped or detained under these laws and give them a greater sense of empowerment
• Influence- to engage with and lobby the relevant policy makers in the interests of our members and the general youth.

We appeal for absolutely anyone, regardless of their faith or background, who has been on the receiving end of the UK’s terror laws and strategy to come forward and contact us with their experiences to inform our work. Your participation will, of course, be kept confidential and you will remain entirely anonymous.

We are particularly interested hearing of experiences relating to:

• Stop-and-searches or a stop-and-account
• Detentions at a UK airport or train station or any other port
• Wrongly arrested under the terror laws due to inaccurate intelligence
• Approached by MI5 agents or Special Branch operatives trying to solicit information from them or trying to recruit them to spy on Muslims

If you have any questions, comments or, most importantly, any cases you would like to raise to our attention please contact Zin Derfoufi, directly on civil.liberties@fosis.org.uk