The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rights

The arrest of independent journalist Richard Medhurst under anti-terrorism laws represents a dramatic escalation of the attack on democratic rights in the UK and around the world.

Medhurst's arrest is part of a wider effort by the Labour government to criminalise and intimidate opposition to the genocide in Gaza, which has sparked mass demonstrations in Britain and around the world.

Medhurst was arrested on 15 August at London's Heathrow Airport as he disembarked from his flight under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act (2000). He was detained for almost 24 hours, interrogated and stripped of all his electronic devices and journalistic equipment.

Medhurst said on his X-Account: “I believe I am the first journalist to be arrested under this provision of the Terrorism Act.”

Since he had only booked his flight to London that same day, the arrest confirms that he was under state surveillance. On the same day, he had criticized on his X-account the “fascist 'terror law', which is used to detain activists without charge or trial for trying to prevent actual terrorism and genocide by the Israeli forces. [Israel Defence Forces].”

Medhurst was arrested under draconian provisions of the 2000 Act, which was amended in 2019 and provides for a prison sentence of up to 14 years for what amounts to a thought crime – “expressing[ing] an opinion or belief that supports a banned organization” and “without regard to whether a person to whom the statement is addressed is thereby encouraged to support a banned organization.”

Medhurst's journalistic work focuses on exposing American, British and Israeli war crimes in Gaza and across the Middle East. He was arrested by a state whose leading politicians – Labour and Conservative – have condemned protests against Israel's genocide over the past ten months as anti-Semitic and “hate marches”.

The tough fight against democratic rights is necessary because the ruling elite is pursuing a course of war and austerity. All major imperialist powers support the massacre of the Palestinians by the fascist Israeli regime and NATO's war against Russia in Ukraine.

Faced with massive popular opposition and the need to step up the offensive on jobs, wages and essential services to finance the war, the Labour government and ruling class around the world must resort even more decisively to state repression, including against journalists and political activists who oppose and denounce war, war crimes and genocide.