Reporters Demand Answers from UK Counter Terrorism Police on Arrests

The National Union of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists have written a joint letter to the UK Head of Counter Terrorism expressing their profound concerns over the recent detentions of British journalists for their reporting of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Matthew Jonathan Jukes QPM is a senior British police officer who heads up Counter Terrorism in Britain, having served as an Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations within the Metropolitan Police Service.

The UK has been stepping up its use of counter-terrorism laws to arrest, detain and gag accredited members of the press in a suspected effort to cease their reporting of Israel’s ‘plausible genocide’ in Gaza.

Last Thursday, the home of 61-year-old Sarah Wilkinson was stormed in a dawn raid by 16 officers, many in plain clothes and balaclavas.

She was restrained and moved to a waiting van before being taken to a local police station, where she was held and questioned under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (2000).

Section 12 of the Act criminalises opinion and can lead to a sentence of up to 14 years in prison.

On 22 August, accredited independent reporter and British citizen Richard Medhurst was flying to London Heathrow when his plane was diverted so he could be arrested by six armed police officers before it reached the airport terminal.

He was held under Section 12 of The Terrorism Act and placed in restraints. His belongings were searched after arresting officers told him he ‘had expressed an opinion or belief that was supportive of a proscribed organisation’.

On October 16, counter-terror police detained the journalist, human rights campaigner and former British diplomat Craig Murray at Glasgow Airport after he attended a Palestine solidarity event, seizing his phone and laptop.

Today, in The Guardian, the chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh warned that fears voiced by the Lancet this summer that hundreds of thousands of people may have be slaughtered by Israel’s ongoing genocidal rampage in Gaza by the end of 2024 are ‘very conservative’ and said she expects the number could be closer to 500,000.

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The NUJ / IFJ letter is reproduced, as below:

Matt Jukes
New Scotland Yard
Victoria Embankment
London SW1A 2HL
matthew.jukes@met.police.uk

3 September 2024

Dear Matt,

We write as general secretaries of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), to express grave concern over the apparent misuse of the Terrorism Act 2000 to detain and arrest journalists, thus undermining media freedom.

The arrest of Richard Medhurst on 15th August and the subsequent seizure of his journalistic equipment including recording devices essential for his work, has shocked both journalists based in the UK and those around the world. Powers contained in anti-terror legislation must always be deployed proportionately, yet actions by police in an apparent crackdown on genuine journalistic activity cause significant cause for concern over efforts to stifle press freedom.

We seek clarity from you on the nature of the investigation into Richard Medhurst and request an urgent meeting to discuss the use of police powers under anti-terror legislation to detain, question and arrest journalists. Without swiſt action to restore confidence over the treatment of journalists and activists, counter-terrorism policing faces an erosion of public confidence and risks a chilling effect on journalists fearing arrest for carrying out their work.

The NUJ representing journalists across the UK and Ireland, and IFJ representing over 600,000 media professionals spanning more than 140 countries, stress that disproportionate use of powers contained in anti-terror legislation by British police runs contrary to the UK government’s commitment to upholding press freedom and ensuring journalists’ safety.

We look forward to a meeting at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary
Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary