To the Office of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and opinion
To the Office of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and of association
To the Office of the Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders
To the Office of the Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights
21 October 2024
RE: IHRC calls for a UN joint action against the last arrests of Pro-Palestine activists in the UK
Dear Special Rapporteurs,
I am writing to bring to your attention a matter of the utmost urgency. As you are certainly aware, the crackdown by national governments in the UK is reaching an alarming and intensified level of repression against activists, including artists, journalists, academics, community leaders and protesters.
In the last few months, IHRC has documented a long string of arrests of prominent critical voices with the purpose of silencing the anti-genocide movement in the UK, France and Germany. We have produced two reports to assist the UN which are available to download here and here.
On the morning of October 16, 2023, counter-terror police in Glasgow Airport detained journalist, whistle-blower, human rights campaigner, and former British diplomat Craig Murray upon his return from Iceland.
In November 2023, police arrested the co-founder of the direct action group Palestine Action, Richard Barnard. He is facing charges under the Terrorism Act for speeches he has previously made.
In August 2024, freelance journalist Richard Medhurst was detained and questioned by police at Heathrow Airport. Medhurst said he believed he was targeted for speaking out on the situation in Palestine.
Just a few weeks later, another journalist and activist, Sarah Wilkinson, saw her home raided in the early hours of the morning. Personal items were confiscated but to date she has also no been charged.
This week, ten counterterrorism police officers raided the London home of the prominent journalist Asa Winstanley, who eventually was neither arrested nor charged with any offence, but his electronic devices were confiscated by the police. According to a letter addressed to Winstanley from “Counter Terror Command”, he resulted in being investigated for offences under the Terrorism Act connected to his social media posts. This was carried out as part of an ongoing investigation into suspected terrorism offences contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act (TACT), 2000 (support of a proscribed organization) and sections 1 and 2, TACT 2006 (dissemination of terrorist documents). It said the raid had been conducted as part of an operation codenamed “Operation Incessantness”.
As a journalist, Winstanley has written for the Electronic Intifada since 2009 and has been an associate editor since 2012. He comments regularly on social media on issues relating to Palestine and Israel, including the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and has more than 117,000 followers on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. Winstanley also contributed a number of articles to Middle East Eye between 2015 and 2018. He is the author of a recent book, Weaponising Anti-Semitism, which accused the pro-Israel lobby in the UK of orchestrating a campaign to undermine the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Last month, the general secretaries of the UK’s National Union of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists wrote to Metropolitan Police Assistance Commissioner Matt Jukes, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing in the UK, to raise concerns about the use of counter-terrorism powers against journalists. Accordingly, Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, and Anthony Bellanger, IFJ general secretary, said that the use of counter-terrorism powers against journalists would have a “chilling effect” on journalists in the UK.
IHRC believes that governments’ strategy of quelling civil dissent, arresting and/or charging pro-Palestine advocates has the twofold objective of drawing a line for freedom of expression that is inconsistent with international law, and seeking to hide the ongoing slaughter in Gaza and now Lebanon from public view so that it can continue apace and unopposed.
IHRC also warns of the weaponization of anti-terrorism laws for political purposes and demands that the authorities immediately drop any charges against Palestinian activists and ensuring the fundamental freedom to continue their work without any further state interference. The rights of free expression and protest are too important in a democracy to allow individuals to be investigated for potential terrorism merely because they may have been involved in protests or hold critical opinions. Indeed, by referring to Schedule 3, Section 4 of Britain’s 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Act, and successively under the new 2023 new National Security Act, both of which have been harshly criticized by the UN, any individual can be said to be serving “hostile” foreign powers without even knowing or intending to — or the powers in question being aware they are.
Undoubtedly, the UN Special Rapporteurs Ms. Irene Khan, Ms. Gina Romero, Ms. Mary Lawlor, Mr. Ben Saul are at the forefront of international efforts to protect human rights defenders and fight against gross human rights violations. In this regard, IHRC has warmly welcomed the SRs’ Joint statement of February 2024, along with the last Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, presented this week to the UN General Assembly.
Nonetheless, this seems not to be enough. IHRC calls on the UN to make use of the full range of instruments at its disposal to assertively urge the UK government to wholeheartedly respect freedom of conscience and expression in its territory
We would be grateful to receive information on what action you have taken and intend to take, and what pressure is to be exerted on the UK national government to comply with the human rights outlined above. Should you need more background information on the case, we are able to support your offices.
Yours sincerely,
Massoud Shadjareh
Chair, IHRC
