Other journalists who have been arrested in the UK and have had their speech include Julian Assange, Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray, and Vanessa Beeley. Journalist Glenn Greenwaldâs late husband and former Brazilian politician David Miranda, who was instrumental in revealing the Edward Snowden leak, was also detained in the UK under the same law that Medhurst was arrested for. Miranda successfully sued the UK government, arguing that the law did not apply to those participating in journalism.
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On Monday, independent UK-based journalist Richard Medhurst posted a video saying that he was arrested at Londonâs Heathrow Airport on Thursday and held for nearly 24 hours under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The arrest and detainment of Medhurst and several other journalists stems from the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, activist, organizer, and commentator Misty Winston told Sputnikâs The Critical Hour on Tuesday.
âThis is the Assange effect. I hate to bring it back to Julian Assange, but I think that is a crucial part of this puzzle here,â Winston argued. âWe saw what they did to Julian Assange and we saw the way that opened up the door for this type of behavior and for other journalists to be targeted this way.â
Assangeâs Wikileaks released a video named âCollateral Murderâ in 2010, which showed US helicopters firing on Iraqi citizens and medical personnel. A few months later, Swedish prosecutors issued the first arrest warrant for Assange, accusing him of sexual assault. Assange denied the accusations and the investigation was eventually dropped but that kicked off a 14-year saga that saw the publisher be confined for over 12 years, first in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for nearly eight years and then more than four years in the UKâs notorious Belmarsh Prison.
Assange was released in June of this year after signing a plea deal with the United States, which was seeking his extradition on espionage charges. By that time, according to his family, his health had seriously deteriorated. He has rarely been seen in public since.
Like Assange, Medhurst was critical of the Western empire and the military-industrial complex. As were other journalists who have recently been detained by UK authorities, including Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray, and Vanessa Beeley, all of whom have been arrested or detained by authorities in recent months.
Journalist Glenn Greenwaldâs late husband and former Brazilian politician David Miranda, who was instrumental in revealing the Edward Snowden leak, was also detained in the UK under the same law that Medhurst was arrested for. Miranda successfully sued the UK government, arguing that the law did not apply to those participating in journalism.
However, the law has since been amended to include âexpresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed (deemed a terrorist) organization,â if âin doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organization.â
âThis is not the first time that this has happened, but it is going. As I said when the Assange stuff was going on, this will continue to get worse. They have opened Pandoraâs box,â explained Winston. âTheyâve normalized this attack on journalism. And so it is going to continue. Weâre going to see more and more journalists being censored, being arrested, being imprisoned, all of those things. And itâll continue until we start to stand up and say, no, thank you. We donât want this.â
Beyond simply attempting to imprison or intimidate the individual journalists being harassed, these actions have a larger goal of intimidating journalists worldwide, in what is known as the âchilling effect.â
âReally, [Assange] was just the proverbial head on a stake outside the castle walls. They wanted to send a message that if you dare to criticize the empire, this is what we will do to you,â explained Winston.
Earlier this month, former UN weapons inspector and frequent Sputnik radio guest and columnist Scott Ritterâs house was raided by the FBI on alleged Foreign Agent Registry Act (FARA) violations. Ritter has denied the charges.
Offline is a documentary on the inevitability of the Earth being slammed by a mega solar flare – not the common type that interrupts communications and creates a light show in the Northern skies – but the big brothers thousands of times more powerful. These monsters deliver enough energy to blow apart the master transformers that supply the planetâs energy grids. When that happens, the lights go out for longer than anyone wants to think about. These X-Class solar storms hit the Earth every 150 years, on average. The last one arrived 156 years ago. We are overdue (
WHILE I DISAGREE WITH HIS POSITION, THIS IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE TO GO DOWN- AND HAS SOME SEVERE RAMIFICATIONS-
If you disagree with Blumenthal’s position, then you haven’t seen the truth about Israel (the who, how and why the state was created in the first place and what the agenda is), and what is really unfolding yet.
You can criticize anyone or even blaspheme , as the recent Olympic ceremony demonstrate. But you dare not criticize Jewish people or they will come for you, no matter how small and powerless you are. What will it take for the public to realize this pattern. It’s right out there in front of their collective faces and they still don’t get it. And for God’s sake forget about Hitler and WWII. I’m talking about NOW. People are willing to give up their wives. children, their welfare and their country just to avoid being called a “racist” , an “anti-Semite” ,… Read more »
*”There is no such thing as ;”hate-speech”. You either have freedom of speech or you don’t.”
*The truth is hate to those who hate the truth.
Unbelievable…I will pray for this man. He speaks the TRUTH.
It’s wierd he never mentioned in his reports why HAMAS are fighting wearing track suits and regular clothes even though they have army uniforms. (and by doing so they breaking one of the fundamental premises of the Geneva Conventions).
Somtimes telling a little piece from a bigger truth is worse than lying.
Do you think this might have a little bit to do with the moronic British public allowing themselves to be totally disarmed? The tradition of an armed public to defend their rights originated in the United Kingdom hundreds of years before the United States was even formed. The militia originated in large part in the United Kingdom. And it also seems to have died there.
only way out of this tyranny is common law
“Asia Times” had an interesting article about the political ramifications of the alliance between Russia, Iran and China, but the one thing Russia and China have in common is the concern about the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism (since Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world) Islam has been influencing the Western governments through its various organizations ie Muslim Brotherhood, Cair, etc. and indeed the charismatic Obama was a big fan of Islam. Currently, the UK is arresting its own people for posting about the crimes of migrants on facebook, but is very lenient on the actual crimes. UK… Read more »