‘Trying to make an example out of me’: British journalist fears UK using his arrest to silence dissent

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – A British journalist recently arrested in the UK believes he was targeted for his reporting on Israel’s war on Gaza, warning that this is an attempt to set a precedent to silence all critical voices.

Richard Medhurst was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on Aug. 15 on charges under Section 12 of the UK’s Terrorism Act of 2000.

Medhurst was held at a police station for over 24 hours, where he said officers accused him of “allegedly expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a prescribed organization.”

Narrating his ordeal, Medhurst said he was pulled off the plane by six officers, all of them in plainclothes except for one in tactical gear.

“They called me by name and told me to come to the front of the plane … Then they marched me off,” he told Anadolu in a video interview.

“They took me to a room on the side, and then they told me that I was being arrested under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 … I said I want to contact my family, but they told me I’m not allowed to. They made it very clear I’m not allowed to speak to anyone.”

He was then subjected to a search and handcuffed.

“It was like they were treating me like a serial killer or something, which is crazy,” he said.

He was moved to a police station and kept waiting for around 13 hours before two detectives came to question him.

“You’re sitting in a prison cell, and you’ve gone through all this experience, and you’re there for like, one hour, five hours, six hours, 12 hours, and you still don’t know why they want you there,” said Medhurst.

“They haven’t questioned you, and all of the officers that arrested you say, ‘We don’t know, or you’ll find out later.’ So I felt like I was being targeted politically, that I was being treated differently.”

In the cell, there is “almost no light … (and) it smells like a toilet,” he said.

“The bed is not a bed, it’s also concrete, just a bit higher, and then there’s like a thin mattress on it and it is really, really cold.”

Despite repeated requests, the officers refused to provide him a change of clothes, and he also had to ask for water several times before being handed “a small glass, maybe after several hours.”

“They’re recording you in the cell the whole time, both audio and video. Even when you sleep, when you go to the toilet, you’re being recorded,” said the journalist.

“I felt the whole process is meant to intimidate you and make you feel like you’re being crushed by the state, by the government, that the government is in control … You’re not allowed to say anything, and you have to shut up and accept this.”

- ‘Losing our rights in the West’

While he was never given a clear reason for his arrest, Medhurst is certain that it has to do with his reporting on Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians, and the UK’s complicity in its actions.

“I’m not at liberty to say what they asked me, but the reason that they arrested me and the reason they’re targeting me, as far as I can gather, is because of my reporting on Palestine,” he said, adding that the British government is “angry at my work.”

“Basically, what I’m trying to do as a journalist is just provide a counterweight to mainstream media, because the media that we have in England and in the West, it’s just 100% pro-Israel and they’re just lying … I don’t feel that the media tell the truth, so I tried to fix that myself by telling the truth.”

He warned that his arrest sets a dangerous precedent that could be used to target others.

“They’re trying to make an example out of me. They’re trying to make this acceptable and then use this against other people,” he asserted.

“I’m afraid that it won’t stop here. I feel that they will continue doing this and, as we see this genocide in Gaza continuing, we’re also losing our rights in the West at the same time.”

Since not enough people in the West are calling out their countries for supporting Israel, their governments view it as “a blank check to continue whatever they’re doing.”

“Not just that, but also to squash any form of criticism, so that in the future, there’s even less people that are out of jail or doing their jobs to shine a light on these issues,” he said.

He said laws in the UK are “so loosely written that anyone can be accused of terrorism,” and if the government wants to go after someone, they can take anything and “twist it into something completely different.”

“I’ve always criticized the Terrorism Act because ... it is used not against terrorists, but against political dissidents, and it’s used in such a fascist way,” said Medhurst.

“I reject what the police said about me and their claims. I’m not engaged in terrorism. That’s really ridiculous.”​​​​​​​