A student organisation has expressed outrage after it was claimed Muslim students had been secretly filmed at a university.

The Guardian newspaper claimed that security staff from Nottingham university have been filming students on campus as a method of monitoring potential extremists.

The documents, published on the website Unileaks, charts the May 2008 arrest by counter-terrorism officers of Nottingham student Rizwaan Sabir and of Hicham Yezza. Sabir had downloaded an al-Qaida training manual as part of research for a dissertation.

Both men were arrested and then released without charge after it emerged that the information was also available at student bookshops.

The newspaper claims university security staff then kept a log of Middle East-related activities on campus, including details of talks and seminars revolving around Palestine and other issues.

Nabil Ahmed, President of FOSIS said, “That the university filmed issues relating to Palestine and the Middle East demonstrates exactly who the university was seeking to target." "In light of the government's recent Prevent review, it is evident to see the severe repercussions on student and staff welfare when a university attempts to tackle sensitive issues relating to counter-terrorism .

A Nottingham University told the newspaper no footage of protests was retained or passed to other authorities, including the police or government. Security staff kept lists of protests in case extra security was required.