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The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rights

The arrest of independent journalist Richard Medhurst under anti-terrorism legislation is a dramatic intensification of the assault on democratic rights in Britain and internationally.

Medhurst's arrest is part of a broader effort by the Labour government to criminalize and intimidate opposition to the genocide in Gaza that has seen mass demonstrations in Britain and throughout the world.

The UK has been harrassing, and arresting, people for social media posts for years now, and often because their opinions were 'offensive'. However the recent unrest, and the subsequent arrests, seems to reveal that the establishment is not only trying to set a precedent amongst the public that draconian policing is acceptable, but also that the public should self-censor out of fear that anti-terror police might turn up at their door.

© Richard Medhurst/XRichard Medhurst

Medhurst was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on August 15 as he disembarked from his plane, under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (2000). He was held for almost 24 hours, questioned, and had all his electronic devices and journalistic equipment confiscated.

Given the fact that Medhurst had only booked his plane ticket back to London earlier that day, the arrest confirms that he was under state surveillance. That same day he had criticised on his X account the "fascist 'terrorism act' being used to hold activists without charge or trial because they tried to stop actual terrorism and genocide by the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]."

Medhurst was arrested under draconian provisions in the 2000 Act, amended in 2019, which allow a person to be jailed for up to 14 years for what is tantamount to a thought crime — "express[ing] an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation" and in doing so being "reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation."

Medhurst's journalism focuses on exposing US, British and Israeli war crimes in Gaza and across the Middle East. He was arrested by a state whose leading politicians, Labour and Conservative, have for the last 10 months denounced protests against Israel's genocide as antisemitic and "hate marches."

The crackdown on democratic rights is necessitated by the war and austerity agenda of the ruling elite, with every major imperialist power backing the slaughter of the Palestinians by the fascistic Israeli regime and supporting NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine.

Faced with mass popular opposition and the need for a stepped-up offensive against jobs, wages and essential services to pay for war, the Labour government and the ruling class everywhere must turn ever more decisively to state repression, including targeting those journalists and political activists who oppose and expose war, war crimes and genocide.

The British ruling class has escalated its attacks on left-wing journalists as part of a broader offensive against democratic rights, ever since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The invasion was deliberately provoked by decades of NATO encroachment to Russia's borders, and following the 2014 regime-change operation that brought a right-wing pro-US regime to power in Kiev.

• On April 17, 2023, French publisher Ernest Moret was arrested as he arrived in London St Pancras Station under anti-terror laws, justified by his participation in mass protests in France against Macron's pension cuts. Moret was stopped under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, allowing "examining officers" at ports and airports to stop, question and/or detain people to investigate suspected acts of terrorism.
• On May 17, 2023, British journalist Kit Klarenberg was arrested at Luton Airport after arriving from Belgrade, Serbia. Klarenberg, a writer for The Grayzone, was interrogated, had his bank cards, electronic devices and SD cards seized, and his fingerprints, photo and DNA taken, under Schedule 3 to the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.

• On October 16, 2023, Craig Murray, a human rights activist, former British diplomat and prominent defender of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — imprisoned at the time in London's maximum security Belmarsh prison — was detained under Section 7 of the Terrorism Act (2000) at Glasgow Airport. Murray was returning from Iceland where he met with senior figures in the Julian Assange defence campaign.

The Assange precedent

Medhurst too was a trenchant opponent of Assange's incarceration. He reported from inside the High Court in London as recently as June as Assange battled the attempt to extradite him to the US for exposing the war crimes of the imperialist powers.

The detention of Assange from 2010 until his release in June this year was a milestone in the offensive of the ruling class against democratic rights. Assange was for 14 years the most prominent victim of the campaign to silence journalists involved in the exposure of imperialist war crimes, and many of those targeted for state repression were involved in the fight for his freedom.

This includes the late David Miranda, partner of then-Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, who in 2013 was detained by the British government at Heathrow Airport under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Miranda was carrying a thumb drive with classified material provided by US National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden.

In a June 24 Perspective column on Assange's release, the World Socialist Web Site editorial board warned:

Though Assange is free, the global capitalist offensive against democratic rights is only accelerating. For every tactical retreat by imperialism, there is a more brutal counterattack... In fact, by effectively torturing a journalist into admitting violations of the Espionage Act by disseminating true information in the public interest, the Biden administration has set a dangerous new precedent for the attack on press freedom.

The election of the Starmer Labour government one month later confirmed this warning.

Sir Keir Starmer played a central role in Assange's persecution as director of public prosecutions at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2008-13. At a time when the CPS was overseeing moves to extradite Assange to Sweden to face questioning over bogus sexual assault allegations, Starmer made four trips to Washington--in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2013, the CPS pressured Swedish prosecutors into maintaining their fraudulent investigation into Assange as a pretext for his onward extradition to the US, with uncovered emails from the CPS to their Swedish counterparts warning, "Don't you dare get cold feet!"

Now, in a move that would have been agreed to by Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Labour has pioneered the use of an amendment to the Terrorism Act passed by the Tories to once again attempt to silence and criminalise a journalist and political activist.

The same course is being pursued by governments throughout the world.

In April this year, hundreds of police officers broke up a Palestine Congress in Berlin, Germany. The Ministry of the Interior banned former Greek finance minister and chairman of the pan-European party DiEM25 Yanis Varoufakis from entering the country, together with Dr. Ghassan Abu Sittah, a medical doctor and rector of Glasgow University. Sittah had worked with Doctors Without Borders in Gaza hospitals during the war and testified at the International Court of Justice, where Germany stands accused of aiding and abetting genocide.

In May, anti-Zionist Israeli historian Ilan Pappé — who was visiting the United States to speak at public meetings — was stopped and interrogated at Detroit airport. Agents from the Department of Homeland Security confiscated and copied the contents of his cell phone before returning it to him.

Earlier this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the upstate New York home of Scott Ritter, the former US Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations weapons inspector who is a vocal opponent of the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine. Ritter was raided based on a potential violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

In Britain, Germany, France and many other countries, the attack on anti-war sentiment has even seen the criminalisation of the slogan, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," leading to dozens of arrests.

This war on journalism has reached its horrifying conclusion with the murder of at least 116 media workers and journalists by Israel during its extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The arrest of Medhurst is a confirmation of the analysis of the Socialist Equality Party regarding the pro-imperialist character of the Labour Party and the impossibility of fighting genocide and police-state rule by pressurising or making appeals to capitalist governments. Capitalism is no longer compatible with the preservation of democratic forms of rule under conditions of war and escalating social reaction.

Defending Medhurst and essential democratic rights such as freedom of the press and stopping the genocide in Gaza require mobilizing the working class against Britain's Labour government and its counterparts internationally. It means building a mass movement against imperialist war, rooted in the working class and centred on the fight for socialism.

Following a spate of arrests in the UK, British counter-terrorism police have announced they will no longer tolerate opinions the government doesn't like, primarily criticism of Israel.

Asking why the government is determined to protect Israel is now a "hate crime" and feeling a twinge of empathy for Palestinians is a "thought crime". Expressing firm disapproval of British politicians counts as a "death threat" and mentioning any of the prime minister's 357 U-turns is "misinformation".

In the latest police crackdown, two journalists have been arrested for criticising Israel and a bunch of ordinary people have been targeted for their dodgy opinions. Excitingly, police battered the shit out of a man in Basingstoke, following reports he looked suspiciously "Middle-eastern". Turns out he was white British but had sat in the sun too long. Nevertheless, the man is being held in custody under suspicion of having unreasonably dark skin. I hope they send the bastard back to where he came from.

A woman was arrested in Liverpool for saying "Netanyahu is going a bit too far, isn't he?" and a manhunt is underway for a terrorist who said he doesn't like "seeing Palestinian children suffering horrible injuries". Not only was this considered hate speech, it was also misinformation because the BBC has explained that Palestinian children probably can't feel pain and therefore don't matter. Plus, Israel has the right to bomb children in self-defence, and when they do, we sensibly avoid naming the killer. This is why mainstream media is more trustworthy than social media.

Unfortunately, the BBC let its standards slip by reporting a Palestinian blogger was killed by an "alleged Israeli airstrike". This was stupid because everyone knows only Israel is doing airstrikes in Gaza. The correct approach was to pretend the blogger was a Hamas terrorist and it was okay to wipe him off the face of the earth.

I can confirm the BBC journalist who wrote the headline has been reported to counter-terrorism police. I'm told his front door will be broken down at 6am tomorrow morning while his kids are sleeping. It's only what he deserves for making Israel look bad.

To help you avoid making the mistake of the BBC journalist, a website has been set up by the government, detailing acceptable opinions. You will be reassured to know some of them differ ever-so-slightly from one another because pluralism matters.

For example, you're allowed to say you fully support genocide (when Israel does it), but you are equally allowed to say this issue is "too complicated" for a simpleton like you to understand. Neither of those opinions will get you in trouble.

Surprisingly, you are allowed to criticise the government, but only if you think they are not going far enough.

For example, you could say you support austerity, but that it needs to be even more brutal. You cannot say you oppose austerity, but you are allowed to pretend austerity is not happening. Denial is fine, however, if you suggest austerity is based on economic illiteracy or wilful cruelty, you are guilty of a hate crime.

A mixture of opinions will help muddy the waters so feel free to argue with others, as long as you're staying within acceptable parameters. If the person you're arguing with goes too far, always ensure you report them to the police. Thought criminals need to be dealt with robustly.

Anyone who strays from pre-authorised opinions risks up to 14 years in prison and a lifetime ban from social media. Thankfully, the UK is not alone in taking such sensible steps because the European Union has joined us in taking action against "toxic behaviour and misinformation".

"Misinformation" includes things like telling the truth about Hunter Biden's laptop and "toxic behaviour" includes saying Macron should respect the French election results.

Mark Zuckerberg let slip that western governments have pressured Meta to remove factual information and satire from its platforms. It's just as well that serious reporters like me never tell the truth, otherwise we'd be buggered, wouldn't we?

If you were under the impression this censorship was all Zuckerberg's idea, remember the Biden administration accused Facebook of "killing people" and were ready to give Zucks the Julian Assange treatment, unless he behaved. This was in no way a violation of the first amendment.

Here is a feel good story for you: since the US started threatening to steal TikTok from its owners, it has become one of the good platforms. For example, it has been censoring the likes of journalist Chris Hedges for "hate speech" because he criticised Kamala Harris.

The collective effort of the West should hopefully force social media companies to remove troublemakers, but if any slip through the net, counter-terrorism police are ready and willing to deal with them. You might be forgiven for thinking the role of counter-terrorism police is to track down the terrorists who make bombs, but not anymore. They now track down people who have bad takes online. I bet that makes you feel much safer.

As someone who loves, and heavily praises, the establishment, I will never be in their sights because I'm one of the good ones. If you're not one of the good ones, I have no sympathy for you, but it's not too late to change your ways. Just ensure you follow the rules and you will not be jailed, but we might use tweets from when you were 16 to stop you getting a job. Nobody should be allowed to forget saying stupid things when they were a teenager. It's important we have a society of robots.

The government's Good Think website has published a number of sensible steps to program the public and stop them from diverging from group think. Here are my favourites:

• Social media users must pledge allegiance to neoliberalism when they open an account.
• Social media companies must quadruple the likes of government ministers to make them look popular.
• All memes must be vetted by the Ministry of Truth prior to publication.
• All bloggers must register with the government and wear an electronic tag on their ankle.
• Police dogs will be set on anyone who calls Rachel Reeves a red Tory.

Perhaps the greatest plan is to abolish end-to-end encryption and get rid of online privacy once and for all. Not only does this mean your data will no longer be secure, but bored intelligence agents can access your webcam to keep children safe. If you don't like bored intelligence agents accessing your webcam, I'm going to assume you oppose child safety.

If, like me, you were concerned censorship efforts are not going far enough, you will be relieved to hear British lawyers are threatening to take action against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Also, it appears the ICC is dithering on arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his accomplices because its judges are being blackmailed by Mossad.

It's not just journalists, bloggers, social media users, and your neighbour who's had a few too many who need to be censored, it's the judges at the world's highest court. This is because western democracies value freedom of speech, unlike the bad countries where people have the wrong religion and/or skin colour. We're much better than them, aren't we? x

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