Nasser Amin forces SOAS retraction

A Muslim student has forced his university's former principal into an embarrassing climbdown after winning a long-running dispute over freedom of speech. Following a year of wrangling, ex-SOAS head Colin Bundy has retracted his claim in spring 2005 that he had reprimanded student Nasser Amin over an article Amin had written.

A SOAS statement dated November 6th read: "Professor Bundy sincerely regrets the reference on the School's website to the author of the article entitled 'When only violence will do' in the spring 2005 issue of the SOAS SU Spirit magazine. He further regrets the use of the word 'reprimand', which he acknowledges was inappropriate."

The row began whilst SOAS was engulfed by allegations of anti-Semitism in early 2005, with the student union barring an Israeli official from giving a speech and electing Ken Livingstone as honorary president in the wake of his verbal attack on a Jewish reporter.

Amin's article argued with regards to Palestinian terrorism that: "Those that benefit from the immoral actions of a colonial state in which they have chosen to reside cannot be considered as innocent." The article sparked thunderous criticism from commentators such as Melanie Phillips, whilst American websites made death threats against him. Labour MP David Winnick called for him to be prosecuted.

London Student, 8 November 2006

See also SOAS news, 6 November 2006