The U.K. Goes Full 1984

The detention of journalist Richard Medhurst is a serious threat to free speech and freedom of the press.

For most people, George Orwell’s 1984 is a chilling commentary on the danger of authoritarianism and government overreach. For others though, such as the current U.K. government it functions as a user manual for how a society should be run. Recently the UK has gone full authoritarian with their detention of anti-war journalist Richard Medhurst.

Some background on Richard Medhurst

Medhurst is a Syrian-British journalist whose reporting, political, and geopolitical commentary have garnered him a huge audience and a lot of respect in the journalism world. His YouTube channel where he often discusses foreign policy from an anti-war perspective has garnered 312,000 subscribers. Medhurst was also one of the only reporters who covered all of Julian Assange’s trials while they were happening and his reporting and activism on the issue certainly played a role in granting Assange’s eventual freedom. Richard Medhurst’s reporting has brought him a lot of respect in the journalism world. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald has said “Richard Medhurst is very knowledgeable on foreign policy and war … he has a lot of interesting perspectives that bring a lot to bear on those sort of questions”. Earlier this year Medhurst participated in a panel alongside Chris Hedges, another Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. Medhursts journalism has led him to appear on news outlets around the world, he has been on outlets ranging from CGTN to Fox News.

The detention of Richard Medhurst

One would think a popular and well-respected independent journalist would not have to fear being detained on terrorism charges, but that is exactly what happened to Medhurst. In a video released on Twitter, Medhurst revealed that he was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport for supposedly violating section twelve of Britain’s “terrorism act” which made it a crime to “express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed (terrorist) organization”.

In the video, Medhust detailed the brutal treatment he received when arrested. Medhurst revealed that he was handcuffed, had his phone confiscated, and was not allowed to call his family. Medhurst had all his devices seized including his journalistic equipment such as microphones. Medhurst revealed he was held for almost 24 hours “in solitary confinement in a cold cell that smelled like urine”. Medhust repeatedly asked for water while being held and had to wait hours for a tiny cup of water. He asked for his own clothes because he was cold and they were never brought to him. On three occasions he asked to see a nurse and they did not let him. Medhurst said he believed this happened to him “on purpose to try to rattle me psychologically”.

Medhurst was shocked that his anti-war journalism got him labeled a terrorist by his own government. He said he had never been detained in his entire life and that he was raised to be anti-war by his parents who were noble peace prize winning UN peacekeepers. He pointed out that he opposes war and terrorism and that he himself had been a victim of terrorism when he lived in the Middle East.

Above: Richard Medhurst’s YouTube video explaining the situation.

God save the queen, the fascist regime

The fact that a dissident anti-war journalist was arrested and accused of being a terrorist by the UK government means the UK can no longer in any way pretend to be any kind of free society or democracy.

The UK had been ramping up its war on free speech and freedom of the press for a long time. They held journalist and publisher Jullian Assange in solitary confinement in Belmarsh prison at the behest of the U.S. for five years which UN Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer said amounted to torture. Belgrade-based British journalist Kit Klarenberg was detained, questioned, and had his phone seized for his critical reporting when returning to Britain. In 2013 journalist David Miranda was detained because of his reporting on the Snowden files. More recently journalists Vanessa Beeley and Craig Murray have been detained and questioned over bogus terrorism accusations.

But the case against Medhurst has taken the British war against the press even further. He was not only detained but arrested and charged under bogus terrorism charges. In his video, Medhurst pointed out he is the first journalist to actually be arrested and not just detained under the terrorism act. This means the UK has completely abandoned any pretense of being a free society and is starting to label journalists who criticize official government policy as terrorists and arrest them, a trademark of autocratic societies.

Who is the real terrorist?

Oxford Dictionary defines terrorism as “the use of violent action in order to achieve political aims”. A perfect example of a terrorist would be former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, who illegally invaded Iraq based on lies and helped kill at least 400,000 people. Yet not only has Tony Blair not been arrested on terrorism charges, he is still welcomed in polite British society. Another terrorist would be David Cameron who took part in the invasion of Libya based on lies and brought open slave markets to the once prosperous African country. Arguably the biggest terrorist in the world right now is Benjamin Netenyahu who is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza while being backed by the U.K.

Not only has Britain's foreign policy been terroristic but they have armed and funded terrorist groups around the world. Since 2015 the U.K. has sent 20 billion dollars worth of arms to Saudi Arabia which has not only committed genocide in Yemen but also armed al Qaeda in Yemen and Syria.

Aside from indirect arms the UK has also directly armed and backed jihadists in the Middle East. The U.K. Parliament report on Libya admitted that the UK and other NATO states were fighting alongside jihadists against Gadaffi and that the intervention led to ISIS having a base in North Africa. The British investigative outlet “Declassified UK” revealed that the UK helped train the Manchester bomber when he was fighting in Libya. The sick irony of this entire story is that Richard Medhurst has done extensive reporting on the fact that Western governments such as the UK have covertly armed jihadists in his native country, Syria. Apparently reporting on the fact that your government is arming terrorists in your country of origin can now get you arrested on terrorism charges.

This story is horrific on so many levels

The fact that section twelve of the UK terrorism act even exists is bad enough. In a free society, people should be allowed to support any groups they want even if they are labeled as a “terrorist organization” by the government. The West at one point labeled Nelson Mandela a terrorist, under the “terrorism act” people opposed to apartheid South Africa would be put in prison.

But the fact that this act is being used against a journalist who has spent his career opposing the UK’s terrorist wars and advocating for peace is especially sick. Studies have proven that Western wars in the Middle East that the U.K. took part in have killed six million people. Richard was born in the Middle East and most certainly has family that has been directly affected by these wars. The fact that he is charged as a terrorist for opposing these wars while war criminal officials in the U.K. government are accepted in polite society shows how sick and backward the current UK establishment is.