IHRC has written to the British Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, warning of the chilling implications of the government’s purge on pro-Palestine activists and journalists.

Referring to the recent arrests/charging of Craig Murray, Richard Barnard, a co-founder of Palestine Action, Sarah Wilkinson, and fellow journalist cum activist Richard Medhurst among others, the letter accuses the Labour government of a “chilling escalation of the previous government’s policy of appeasing and enabling genocide”.

“They appear to us to signal the beginning of a targeted campaign of intimidation, harassment and persecution by your government aimed at silencing the anti-genocide movement in the UK,” says the letter.

It reminds the Home Secretary of Britain’s obligations under international law.

Arresting and/or charging pro-Palestine advocates for allegedly supporting the right of resistance to occupation is clearly intended to draw a line for freedom of expression that is inconsistent with international law. International law is clear that an occupied people have the right to defend themselves against an occupying force, by arms if necessary.

By arresting those who are reporting on the horrors of the genocide and holding a spotlight to the perpetrators and their allies, the government seems to be seeking to hide the slaughter from public view so that it can continue apace and unopposed.

IHRC also criticises the Nazi-esque heavy-handedness of police tactics, in which large numbers of mask-clad police have broke into homes, ransacked them, and even desecrated the ashes of a deceased family member.

IHRC also warns of the weaponisation of of anti-terrorism laws for political purposes and demands that the authorities immediately release all pro-Palestine activists and journalists arrested and/or charged and allow them the fundamental freedom to continue their work without any further state interference.

The full letter is available to read here.

[ENDS]

For more information or comment please contact the Press Office on (+44) 208 904 0222  or (+44) 7958 522196 or email media@ihrc.org
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IHRC is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.
Islamic Human Rights Commission
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