Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Assange nally freed -but globalthreats to press freedom continue 2 Julian Assange may have been finally freed yet serious threats to press freedom in the UK and elsewhere continue -though largely ignored by the corporate media.Richard Medhurst, a Syrian-British independent journalist and staunch supporter of Palestinian rights, was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport on 15 August 2024 and held for nearly 24 hours for allegedly committing an offence under a new and controversial anti-terrorism law.All his electronic devices and journalistic equipment were confiscated.Earlier in the day he had criticised on his X account the 'fascist' Terrorism Act which he alleged was being used to hold activists without charge or trial because they tried to stop actual terrorism and genocide by the Israel Defence Forces.The 2000 Act, amended in 2019, allows a person to be jailed for up to 14 years for expressing 'an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation' and in doing so being 'reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation'.Medhurst commented: 'I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police.I am not a terrorist.I have no criminal record.Prior to this incident, I'd never been detained in my entire life.… Both of my parents
Author: Richard Lance Keeble
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4409577162