London:
Abdulmutallab, the terrorist who tried and failed to blow up a plane flying into Detroit in December last year studied in University College London. He was the president of the college's Islamic society in 2006-2007.
Now according to a report, the British government will be sharing the details of nearly 1000 British Muslim students with the US intelligence agencies to aid their investigation of the Detroit plane bomber. Most of these names are of those who have been members of the universities' Islamic society, raising fears that these students will be targeted and their names will appear o international terrorist watch lists.
"There's no reason to give everyone's details over, its carpeting everyone with the same brush. Clearly unfair. It is a clear breach of civil liberties and freedom," said a student.
"If a student is part of an Islamic society it doesn't make them extremists. They just want to find out more about their religion and what their belief is and I don't think it's right for them to hand over the information to CIA," said another student.
Human rights bodies have also been critical of this counter terrorism method as they feel it'll heighten the sense of persecution amongst Muslims in this country.
All the police is willing to say is that this is part of their investigation and the information will be handled sensitively.