It has been a grim fortnight for freedom in the UK with the arrest of two British journalists, Richard Medhurst and Sarah Wilkinson under alleged counter terrorism offences.
Journalism is my livelihood. I have an ethical and moral responsibility toward the general public to inform. But I feel that a muzzle has been placed on me. Richard Medhurst
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Syrian-Brisitsh Richard Medhurst, was escorted off his plane at Heathrow airport where six police officers arrested him under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000. He was accused of allegedly;
expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization
However the police would not explain any further.
Then he was taken to an adjacent room, patted down, his phone confiscated. Nor was he allowed to inform his family. Placed in handcuffs he was taken down to the runway and hauled into a police van.
Richard says;
The handcuffs were extremely tight...they left marks on me for two days...I had to struggle the entire time [in the van].
He was then sat on a bench had his socks and feet inspected and led into an UV light room.
My suitcase was then opened in the lobby and ransacked; all my journalistic equipment and devices were seized, including phones, sim cards, wireless microphones, microphones and headphones. Even my shoelaces.
They later took his DNA, fingerprints, palmprints, and photographed him.
I was placed in solitary confinement, in a cold cell that smelt like urine. There was barely any light, and the bed—if you can even call it a bed—was a small concrete ledge, with a paper thin mattress. The cell had no windows. No heating. No toilet paper.
I was recorded 24/7, with audio and video— even when going to the toilet. I had to eat food with a piece of cardboard, that you’re supposed to fold in two in order to scoop up the meal.
Sarah Wilkinson, British human rights activist, was arrested reportedly over “content she has posted online”. Known for posting content that is obscured by a graphic content warning which when unmasked has charted the genocide in incontrovertible images.
Shortly after 7am her street was filled with cars and police vehicles twelve to sixteen officers, some of them in plain clothes from the counter-terrorism police barged into her house, when asked twice for a warrant they failed to show it.
They said she was under arrest for ‘content that she has posted online.’ We now know it relates to every post she’s made since October 7th.
Her house was raided and they seized all her electronic devices.
Sarah says;
I was frog marched upstairs. I wasn't’ allowed to get dressed, I wasn’t allowed to take medications for my Crohns.…
Like Richard, Sarah states how tight the handcuffs are. “My fingers turned blue.”
Whilst Sarah is again frog marched out into a van, her house is raided by threatening balaclava wearing men, unmarked. They took every piece of computer equipment, every phone, money, passport. Sarah is now concerned that she will be unable to comply with a directive to hand in her passport – because they have it. She also reports a personal affront in which the police had scattered her mother’s ashes all over the attic.
Sarah was released later that night. She’s now not allowed to use a phone, not allowed to travel, not allowed to go on social media or continue reporting as a journalist. In effect it’s house arrest. Richard feels himself to be in limbo uncertain as to what the future holds. Both had to push for a lawyer.
Richard also requested to see a nurse that had to be made repeatedly. Meanwhile Sarah has Crohn’s disease and had a hell of time unable to receive her meds, seeing people she didn’t believe to be suitably qualified and was therefore unable to eat. Sarah started to panic that her welfare was in danger. By the time meds did arrive it was nearing midnight when Sarah finally got home feeling really ill.
Richard was held in total almost 24 hours in detention. At no point, whatsoever, was he allowed to speak to a family member or friend. After waiting 15 hours, he was finally interviewed by two detectives. The interview lasted just about an hour, an hour and a half.
But I believe that this was done on purpose to try to rattle me psychologically.
It’s obvious that the British State is extremely pro-Israel and is using the UK police to deliberately target accredited journalists covering the ongoing genocide. Earlier this year Kit Klarenberg and Vanessa Beeley were both detained and harassed.
...the government doesn’t people to know what’s happening to the people of Gaza, how many deaths a day, how many children are being massacred and piled up into plastic bags, it doesn’t want people to know this and so the only way they can do this is by silencing the journalists and the people that broadcast the news… Sarah Wilkinson