Former British diplomat Craig Murray discusses the case of journalist Richie Medhurst and his arrest under the U.K. Terrorism Act.
Note: We interviewed Richie Medhurst after the livestream ended and we will be posting it shortly.
The adjective “Orwellian” is becoming wholly inadequate to describe what is now happening in Western democracies – if we can still call them that.
On Aug. 7 journalist and former U.N. weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who is a columnist for Consortium News, had his house raided by the F.B.I. in upstate New York. The federal agents removed all his electronic devices and boxes of paper documents – Ritter’s archives from his day as a weapons inspector in Iraq, which he fears he will never see again.
The U.S. Department of Justice is trying to build a case that because of his journalism, protected under the U.S. First Amendment, Ritter is an unregistered agent of the Russian government. According to George Galloway, YouTube has now begun removing videos of Ritter appearances on Galloway’s show, perhaps under direction of the F.B.I.
And then last Thursday, British journalist Richie Medhurst was arrested and held for nearly 24 hours upon arrival at Heathrow Airport in London.
The law under which he was arrested is the U.K. Terrorism Act, which actually criminalizes opinion. It says:
“– A person commits an offence if—
— he invites support for a proscribed organisation …
– expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, and in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.”
There was a time not too long ago when such events were just among our worst fears. It is now become reality.
Guests: Craig Murray, the journalist and former British diplomat, who was also detained last year under the Terrorism Act. Hosts: Elizabeth Vos and Joe Lauria. Producer: Cathy Vogan.
It seems clear to me that US and British ‘intelligence’ services can now be regarded as utilising Orwell’s ‘1984’ as a procedural guidebook, and not as a warning.
dear richie medhurst,
dear craig murray,
dear joe lauria and
dear cathy voghan,
allow me to take this opportunity
to let you know how grateful i am
for the work you do. i would be so
ill-informed if i had only the MSM
in my EU country to rely on …
before i heard your talks yesterday
i read the lines that set the context
and thought: “they’re coming for you!”
when craig murray explicitly stated it:
“they’re coming for us!”
the thought became even more chilling.
remembering the ordeal they put julian assange through
[and that times are hard for journalists around the globe]
we can only hope for enough public outrage and support
to show them: “we will not be intimidated!”, although, in
the face of constant harassment and all sorts of chicanery,
resisting is not easy.
i do hope you’ll be able to keep up your indispensable work
and wish you all the support you can get [way beyond mine]!
Oh yes. They are scared of us. Because the inequalities prevelant in our societies are becoming much wider. The citizens are slowly waking up and realising they are not represented by governments. Only the rich have a say in what goes on. We are lambs to the slaughter. But they ultimately will not be able to control us.
As an 85 year old working class socialist I find the nonsensical propaganda from Washington & Westminster as the language of war criminals which Goebbels & The Israelis would consider angelic!
I thought you would be interested in this story I found on MSN: ‘There is rot in every state, and the stink of it comes from our leaders,’ claims Neil Oliver – hxxps://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/there-is-rot-in-every-state-and-the-stink-of-it-comes-from-our-leaders-claims-neil-oliver/vi-BB1r6mj1?ocid=socialshare&pc=DCTS&cvid=abc34841031f42ba81c4b9322752b9c0&ei=22