Dear All,

In the early hours of Thursday, August 29, the ‘security services’ came for journalist and pro-Palestine activist Sarah Wilkinson. More than a dozen balaclava-clad men forced their way into her house, said they didn’t need to show her a warrant, handcuffed her and took her away. They forced her son out of the house and proceeded to search the premises, ransack the rooms and take away all electronic devices.

Wilkinson’s son later tweeted about the raid and said that his mother was eventually released on bail but the conditions of this were that she was “not to touch any electronic devices” i.e. no phones, computers or televisions.

A few days after this raid, the 61-year old Wilkinson was interviewed on the Crispin Flintoff Show (on YouTube). She spoke in detail about what had happened to her. She was able to do the interview because ‘doing interviews’ was not part of the bail restrictions (she appeared for the interview but she herself did not touch the computer she was connected to). What Wilkinson described is a scenario probably familiar to those who have experience of the ‘midnight knock’ or of the heavy handed, terrorising tactics of security personnel. Still, it was shocking. She was driven around in a security van for two hours before eventually being taken to a police station. Even though she suffers from the autoimmune condition Crohn’s Disease, she was denied her medication and hence was unable to eat (Crohn’s is serious inflammatory bowel disease).

Wilkinson says there will probably be no trial and no defence as she was detained under Britain’s Anti-Terror Act. She describes the terms of her bail as an effective prison sentence: she is unable to access news or to report herself, she is not allowed to travel or buy tickets for travel so actually she is under a form of house arrest. She also needs to surrender her passport to the authorities. However, she says that after the raid her passport has been missing. It is not on the ‘list of seized articles’ so she says it has either been taken by the anti-terror team but not listed or they have hidden it away somewhere in her house. She is forbidden to apply for a new passport or report this one as missing.

During the raid, the urn containing the ashes of Wilkinson’s mother was emptied and the ashes were scattered all over her attic, something that Wilkinson has found quite traumatic and which she said was reminiscent of Israeli tactics – the desecration of graves or the destructionof memories/ mementos of a family.

Two weeks before Wilkinson’s arrest, the pro-Palestine journalist Richard Medhurst was detained under Section 12 of the UK Terror Act. He said that when his flight landed at Heathrow airport he was immediately escorted off the plane by six police officers, “waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft.” He said his captors made it clear that this was an arrest, not a detention and was under Section 12 of the Terror Act of 2000. He said, “they accused me of allegedly ‘expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation’ but wouldn’t explain what this meant.”

Medhurst said “all 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 and palm prints and photographed me.” Medhurst was detained for almost 24 hours. He was not allowed to contact either 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’ve been aware of my background and that I’m a journalist.” He thought the arrest was “done on purpose to try and rattle me psychologically.”

The arrests of Medhurst and Wilkinson follow close on the arrest of Richard Barnard, a co-founder of London-based group, Palestine Action. The group uses direct action tactics such as the occupation of companies linked to Israel’s 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 Terror Act, 2000, on the basis of “supporting a proscribed organisation and encouraging criminal activity.”

What does this crackdown indicate? Does it indicate that Keir Starmer’s government has decided that anybody criticising Israel is a terrorist? Is this a way to silence those who try to expose the genocide of the Palestinians and the devastation of Gaza? Is this intimidation aimed at discouraging people from attending pro-Palestine gatherings or peace marches? Have members of Israeli intelligence been involved in these raids and detentions in the UK? (Wilkinson noticed that some of the questions she was asked sought to dehumanise Palestinians in the way Israel routinely does).

These are all disturbing questions. It seems that they can all be answered in the affirmative. Those being targeted are people with influential voices on social media, voices that the authorities want to silence.

The authoritarianism is troubling. As former Pink Floyd bassist and outspoken activist Roger Waters said in a video on social media following Wilkinson’s arrest: “Nineteen Eighty-Four has arrived and is alive and well in the United Kingdom.”

There is something else to note: the arrests of free-speech campaigners and journalists under the Terror Act and the crackdown on those criticising Israel don’t get reported or discussed in Britain’s mainstream media.

Best wishes.

Umber Khairi