Repression | Dialogue | thenews.com.pk

Dear all,

In the early morning hours of Thursday, August 29, the “security services” came for journalist and pro-Palestinian activist Sarah Wilkinson. More than a dozen men in balaclavas broke into her home, told her they didn’t have to show her a warrant, handcuffed her, and took her away. They threw her son out of the house and searched the premises, ransacking the rooms and taking all her electronic devices.

Wilkinson’s son later tweeted about the raid and said his mother was eventually released on bail but on the condition that she “does not touch any electronic devices” ie no phones, computers or televisions.

A few days after the raid, Wilkinson, 61, was interviewed on the Crispin Flintoff Show (on YouTube). She detailed what happened to her. She was able to do the interview because “conducting interviews” was not part of her bail restrictions (she showed up for the interview but didn’t touch the computer she was connected to). What Wilkinson described is likely familiar to those who have experience with “midnight knocks” or brutal, terrorizing tactics by security personnel. Still, it was shocking. She was wheeled around in a security van for two hours before finally being taken to a police station. Despite having an autoimmune disease, Crohn’s disease, she was denied medication and unable to eat (Crohn’s disease is a serious inflammatory bowel disease).

Wilkinson says there is unlikely to be a trial or defence because she has been detained under UK anti-terrorism legislation. She describes the terms of her bail as an effective prison sentence: she is barred from news or reporting, and is not allowed to travel or buy tickets to travel, so she is effectively under house arrest. She must also surrender her passport to the authorities. However, she says her passport went missing after the raid. It is not on a “seized items list”, so she says it was either taken by the anti-terrorism team but is not listed, or hidden somewhere in her home. She is prohibited from applying for a new passport or reporting it as missing.

During the raid, Wilkinson’s mother’s urn was emptied and the ashes were scattered throughout the attic. Wilkinson found this to be a deeply traumatic experience, which she said was reminiscent of Israeli tactics – desecrating graves or destroying family memories/heirlooms.

Two weeks before Wilkinson’s arrest, pro-Palestinian journalist Richard Medhurst was detained under Section 12 of the UK Terrorism Act. He said that when his plane landed at Heathrow Airport, he was immediately escorted off the plane by six police officers “waiting for me at the gate”. He said his captors made it clear that this was an arrest, not detention, and that it was under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. He said that “they charged me with allegedly ‘expressing an opinion or belief in support of a proscribed organisation’ but they would not explain what that meant”.

Medhurst said that “all my journalistic equipment and devices were seized, including phones, SIM cards, wireless microphones, microphones, headphones and even shoelaces. My DNA, fingerprints and palm prints were also taken and photographs were taken”. Medhurst was detained for almost 24 hours. He was not allowed to contact his family or friends. He said he felt that “the whole process was designed to humiliate, intimidate and dehumanise me and treat me like a criminal, even though they must have been aware of my background and that I was a journalist”. He believed the arrest was “deliberately carried out to try to shake me up mentally”.

The arrests of Medhurst and Wilkinson follow the arrest of Richard Barnard, co-founder of the London-based group Palestine Action. The group uses direct action tactics, such as occupying businesses linked to the Israeli arms trade. Barnard has been charged with two offences for comments made in two speeches. Like Wilkinson and Medhurst, he has also been charged under the UK Terrorism Act 2000, for “promoting a proscribed organisation and encouraging criminal activity”.

What does this crackdown mean? Does it mean that Keir Starmer’s government has decided that anyone who criticises Israel is a terrorist? Is this a way to silence those who seek to expose the genocide of Palestinians and the devastation of Gaza? Is this intimidation designed to discourage people from attending pro-Palestinian rallies or peace marches? Were members of Israeli intelligence involved in these raids and arrests in the UK? (Wilkinson noted that some of the questions she was asked were designed to dehumanise Palestinians in a way that Israel routinely does.)

These are all troubling questions. All of them, it seems, can be answered in the affirmative. The targets are people with influential voices on social media, voices that the authorities want to silence.

Authoritarianism is worrying. As former Pink Floyd bassist and outspoken activist Roger Waters said in a social media video after Wilkinson’s arrest: “1984 is here and it’s alive and well in the UK.”

One other thing worth noting is that the arrests of free speech activists and journalists under the Terrorism Act and the repression of those critical of Israel are not reported or discussed in the mainstream British media.

Best wishes.

Umber Khairi