Time and date: 1800 – 1930 Thursday 8 September 2011
Location: McCance Lecture Theatre, Richmond St, Glasgow
Speakers:
- Aamer Anwar, Scotland’s leading human rights lawyer.
- Helen Dexter , is Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Manchester. She recently argued that morality was an inappropriate way to respond to the riots in England in August 2011
- Christina Hellmich Reading University, author of Al-Qaeda: From global network to local franchise
- Dr Bob Lambert European Muslim Research Centre, Exeter University, formerly of Metropolitan Police Special Branch Muslim Contact Unit
Biographical notes on speakers
Aamer Anwar is the leading human right lawyer in Scotland. While a student activist in 1991, he was chased and beaten up by police officers, losing his front teeth being hospitalised. He made legal history by taking the officers responsible to court and receiving damages from Strathclyde Police. Anwar became a solicitor in 2000, setting up Aamer Anwar & Co, Solicitors & Notaries in 2006.
Aamer has often represented clients in high profile controversial criminal cases with political or human rights implications. He is best known for his campaigns for justice after the killing of Glasgow schoolboy Imran Khan. Anwar also campaigned on behalf of the family of murdered Indian waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar, which led to a radical overhaul of the criminal justice system and several inquiries.
In 2004 he was the solicitor in the notorious Ice Cream Wars appeal, which saw his client ‘TC’ Campbell cleared after 20 years. Anwar is noted for his campaigning work and his support for Stop the War Coalition and the campaigns against the 31st G8 summit and Dungavel Detention Centre for failed asylum seekers. In 2008 he faced allegations of contempt of court after a complaint by the presiding Judge, Lord Carloway, because of his remarks after the trial and conviction of Mohammed Siddique in the High Court of Justiciary. He was found not guilty of contempt. He was ultimately vindicated following the successful appeal of Mohammed Atif Siddique in February 2010, which led to his release and the quashing of his conviction under Section 58 – Collection of information|Section 57 of the Terrorism Act, which was described as a miscarriage of justice by the appeal court. In 2010 he acted as solicitor for Tommy Sheridan in HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan.
Helen Dexter is Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Manchester. She recently argued that morality was not an appropriate way to respond to the riots in England in August 2011
Dr Christina Hellmich is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Reading. She is a specialist in Middle East politics working in Yemen, with a particular research interest in political Islam and global terrorism. Her recent book, Al-Qaeda: From global network to local franchise (Zed 2011), examines the key sources that inform the present understanding of al-Qaeda.
Dr Bob Lambert is the co-director of the European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC) at the University of Exeter and a lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV) at the University of St. Andrews. In his new book Countering al-Qaeda in London: Police and Muslims in Partnership (published Hurst: London in September 2011) Robert reflects on his experience as head of the Metropolitan Police Muslim Contact Unit (MCU) from January 2002 to December 2007 and on his subsequent PhD research examining the legitimacy and effectiveness of police and Muslim partnerships in London. In Competing Counter-Radicalisation Models in the UK a chapter in Rik Coolsaet’s Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge: European and American Experiences (published by Ashgate in September 2011) Robert examines MCU experience in relation to UK Prevent strategy in 2011. As part of an ongoing EMRC research project Robert is currently examining the nature and extent of anti-Muslim or Islamophobic violence against Muslims in the UK.
All welcome.
Map and directions here
