BREAKING: UK Man Arrested for "expressing an opinion or belief"

Journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested at Heathrow Airport under the UK Terrorism Act for “expressing an opinion or belief”.

Terrorism Act 2000 was amended to make expressing the wrong opinions or beliefs a legal offense in 2019. Medhurst says he thinks he’s the first journalist arrested under the added provision.

He’s a British citizen and outspoken critic of the West’s foreign policy in the Middle East. Presumably, the police interpret his criticism of Israel’s actions against Gaza as support for terrorism but Medhurst says, “I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police. I am not a terrorist…I categorically and unequivocally condemn terrorism.”

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Medhurst describes his ordeal with police in a video he uploaded to X.

My name is Richard Thomas Medhurst. I'm an internationally accredited journalist from the United Kingdom. On Thursday, as I landed in London Heathrow Airport, I was immediately escorted off the plane by six police officers who were waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft. They arrested me, not detained. They arrested me under section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2002, accused me of allegedly, quote, expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization, unquote, but wouldn't explain what this meant.

One officer took my bags, and when I asked why he was still back in the aircraft, I was told, look, man, you can get nicked right here in front of everyone or in there. Your choice. So I was taken to an adjacent room, patted down my phone, confiscated. I was not allowed to inform my family. Despite being calm and co-operative, I was handcuffed with something that placed my shoulders in an awkward position and my wrists on top of, rather than next to each other.

The handcuffs were extremely tight, despite the police loosening them. They left marks on me for two days. The police took me down onto the runway, put me in a police van, essentially a mobile cage, and informed me that everything was being recorded. The van was cramped. I had to struggle the entire time to keep my balance and trying not to fall over.

As we drove to the police station and once inside the station, they searched me again for the second time within ten minutes. I was told to sit on a bench, remove my shoes, remove my socks. I was told to turn my socks inside out and hold them up for the officers to inspect. They also made me hold up my feet so they could check them as well.

The officers took me to a room with UV lights, which they told me is used to catch burglars who are sprayed with something, as I've no idea why they did this since they just removed me off of a plane. My suitcase was then open in the lobby and ransacked. All of my journalistic equipment and devices were seized, including phones, SIM cards, wireless microphones, microphones, headphones, even my shoelaces.

They later took my DNA as well my fingerprints, palm prints, and photographed me. I was placed in solitary confinement in a cold cell that smelt like urine. There was barely any light in the bed, if you can even call it a bed was simply a small concrete ledge with a paper-thin mattress. The cell had no windows, no heating, no toilet paper.

I was recorded 24 over seven with audio and video even when going to the toilet. I had to eat food with a piece of cardboard that you supposed to fold into in order to scoop up the meal. The police said that I have the right to inform someone that I'm locked up. So I said, okay, I want to call my family.

And then they'd go, well, your calls were withheld because of the nature of the alleged offense. I tried to ask, well, what's the point of a right if you can just randomly withdraw it? Why tell me that I have this right at all? And one of them said something along the lines of, well, it's not an absolute right.

It can be waived. Similarly, they said I had the right to know why I was being detained. So I asked again and the police would say something like, well, we're just the arresting officers. We don't really know, or this will be explained to you during the interview or some other generic response. Now, despite the police officer's civility and cheerfulness, I felt that the whole process was designed to humiliate, intimidate and dehumanize me and treat me like a criminal.

Even though they must have been aware of my background and that I'm a journalist, I was under surveillance almost the entire time, from the moment I was arrested until I was released to be in the police van, in the station, the cell, all of it. No privacy whatsoever. Many of my requests were also delayed or outright ignored. When I was detained, I asked for water several times.

The police would always say sure, but then I ended up waiting for hours for a tiny cup of water. I asked if I could have my own clothes because I was in a t shirt. It was cold and I couldn't sleep. They said they give me a pullover but never did, although one God did give me a second blanket.

So you have to nag and nag for the most basic things. And this is why I was afraid that they weren't even going to call a solicitor for me. I was able to see the nurse on one occasion, but on three other occasions when I asked to see the nurse, they say yes and then nothing for many hours.

No one in the world knew what had happened to me or where I was. Only the police could call a solicitor for me. I had to ask like 4 or 5 different guards for several hours until I finally received the call. Some of my solicitor's calls did not get through or not answered. One of the calls my solicitor was told would be monitored and and so they simply refused to take it.

I asked to speak to the solicitor afterwards when? When that happened, but I was not allowed to. In total, I spent almost 24 hours in detention. At no point whatsoever was I allowed to speak to a family member or a friend. After waiting 15 hours, I was finally interviewed by two detectives. The interview lasted about an hour. An hour, half, maybe some, something like that.

So there's clearly no need to hold me there this entire time. But I believe this was done on purpose, to try and rattle me psychologically. That failed. I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police. I am not a terrorist. I have no criminal record. Prior to this incident, I'd never been detained in my entire life.

I'm a product of the diplomatic community, and I'm raised to be anti-war for both of my parents. Won Nobel Peace Prize for their work as United Nations peacekeepers. They had a tremendous effect on my worldview and outlook, and instilled in me the importance of diplomacy, international law, and peace. I myself am a victim of terrorism. When I attended the British School in Islamabad, the Egyptian embassy adjacent to my school was blown up in a double bombing.

I categorically and unequivocally condemn terrorism. I am a Medhurst. My family goes back 1000 years in this country. I come from a long line of public servants. My father served in the London Metropolitan Police before entering the United Nations. He is an expert and an authority on counter-terrorism who taught me much. My grandfather was in the Royal Air Force during World War Two, and his father before him in the British Army in World War one.

I perhaps don't have the same career paths as them, but I consider my journalism to be a public service and my way of doing my bit for the country by providing a counterweight to mainstream media. I love my country. I respect its laws and its legal institutions. I get the feeling nevertheless, that those like myself, who are speaking up and reporting on the situation in Palestine are being targeted.

I had booked my ticket to London on the same day, and yet an entire team of police were mobilized to arrest and question me. This is why I felt that this was a pre-planned, coordinated arrest. Many people have been detained in Britain because of their connection to journalism, sometimes under the Terrorism Act, sometimes not. I think of Julian Assange, Craig Murray, Kate.aa

Clarence Brooke, David Miranda, Vanessa Bailey. As far as I'm aware, I'm the only journalist, however, to have been arrested and held for up to 24 hours under section 12 of the Terrorism Act. Keep in mind the conditions that I outlined previously, the psychological element where you're made to wait endlessly, you've not been told what you're accused of, nor when you'll be questioned.

Now, despite having been released unconditionally, I do not feel that my bail is truly unconditional. I'm effectively in limbo not knowing if I will be charged in three months or if I will go to prison. Journalism is my livelihood. I have an ethical and a moral responsibility toward the general public to inform, but I feel that a muzzle has been placed on me.

I simply do not know if or how I can work at all during the next months. Palestine. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza remain the most pressing news story in the world. However, it seems that any statement, no matter how innocent, how factual and well-intentioned, can be skewed and twisted into an offense of the highest order. This is precisely the danger and the absurdity of the Terrorism Act that I have always sought to impress upon the public.

Long before I ever became a victim of it myself, it is out of control. It has no place in a democracy. Counter-Terrorism laws should be used to fight actual terrorism, not journalism. We cannot call ourselves a democracy as long as reporters are dragged off of planes and detained and treated like murderers. I am disgusted that I am being politically persecuted in my own country now, as I do not know if I can still report as a journalist for the next months.

I kindly ask you for your support during these times. Freedom of the press. Freedom of speech really are under attack. The state is cracking down and escalating to try and stop people from speaking out against our government's complicity in genocide. Please stand not just with me, but with the others who are still inside. I know what they're going through, and the best relief is to know that people on the outside are rooting for you and doing everything they can to get you out.

Thank you.