British authorities are no longer pursuing British journalist Richard Medhurst under the Terrorism Act for his reporting on Gaza, writes Joe Lauria.
Richard Medhurst on X announcing the U.K. had dropped his case.
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
CN at 30
The British Crown Prosecution Service has dropped its terrorism investigation of independent journalist Richard Medhurst 16 months after he was stopped at Heathrow Airport and interrogated about his reporting on Gaza.
Medhurst reported the CPS decision in an X post.
BREAKING: UK Drops Terrorism Case Against Journalist Richard Medhurst
No charges will be filed, and bail cancelled.
However, it is only a partial victory for freedom of the press, as the UK authorities handed Austria all their intel/files for them to continue the persecution. pic.twitter.com/YkoVT2JpF6
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) December 14, 2025
Medhurst said Britain dropped the case by turning it over to Austrian authorities, who raided Medhurst’s home in Vienna last February, taking his devices and interrogating him about his reporting on Gaza.
He said British authorities turned over their files to the Austrians and gave them “primacy” over the case. They also lifted bail against him.
Medhurst said Austria can’t have primacy because he was arrested first by Britain and that the claims against him are different. “The U.K. claims that journalism is terrorism,” he said. “The Austrians say journalism makes you a member of a terrorist organization.”
Austrian immigration authorities called him to a meeting in February where they threatened to revoke his residency because of his reporting on Palestine and Lebanon.
When he thought the interview at the immigration office was over, he said a group of plainesclothes officers entered the room flashing their badges. He was detained and served with a search warrant.
Medhurst said he was accused by them of encouraging terrorism, disseminating propaganda and being involved in organized crime.
Medhurst was arrested by Britain in August 2024 entering his own country at Heathrow Airport and detained nearly 24 hours for allegedly violating the British Terrorism Act by supporting a “proscribed organization,” namely Hamas.
[See: Journalist Richie Medhurst Arrested at Heathrow Airport Under ‘Terrorism Act’]
Section 12 of the British Terrorism Act actually criminalizes holding certain opinions or beliefs. It reads:
“12 Support.
(1) A person commits an offence if—
(a) he invites support for a proscribed organisation, and
(b) the support is not, or is not restricted to, the provision of money or other property. …
(1A) A person commits an offence if the person—
(a) expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, and
(b) in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.”
Under these provisions other journalists, including Craig Murray and Asa Winstanley have been interrogated and likewise threatened with prosecution for critical reporting about Israel in Gaza, which is being misconstrued by the state as support for Hamas.
Criticism of one side in a conflict does not automatically amount to support for the other.
Under (1A) (a) above, thousands of Britons have been arrested this year only for publicly proclaiming support for Palestine Action, an activist group opposing Israel’s genocide that has been designated a terrorist organization for damaging RAF property in a protest.
Joe Lauria is editor-in-chief of Consortium News and a former U.N. correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and other newspapers, including The Montreal Gazette, the London Daily Mail and The Star of Johannesburg. He was an investigative reporter for the Sunday Times of London, a financial reporter for Bloomberg News and began his professional work as a 19-year old stringer for The New York Times. He is the author of two books, A Political Odyssey, with Sen. Mike Gravel, foreword by Daniel Ellsberg; and How I Lost By Hillary Clinton, foreword by Julian Assange.
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I am from Vancouver,Canada and i want to say this case against Richard Medhurst by Britain shows the contempt that the
British Gov’t got for Journalists. Richard Medhurst got support all around the world. That is probably one reason the case was
dropped by the British Gov’t. Independent Journalists like Richard Medhurst tell the Truth unlike Journalists who work for major
Newspapers who don’t tell the truth about anything they say. It is Journalists like Richard Medhurst who tell the World what is happening in Gaza,The West Bank, Venezuela, Africa and many other places.
This entire bloody Western imperial project, including Israel can’t collapse soon enough for humanity’s sake. Thank you to Richard Medhurst and all the other courageous independent journalists, most especially the brave souls reporting from Gaza for bearing witness to the suffering of the Palestinian people and keeping the world informed. This criminal cabal will not survive because of their trenchant reporting. That is what journalism looks like.
FREE Richard Medhurst! FREE Palestine! FREE speech! FREE us all!…as these confinements all originate from one source.
I have long been a supporter of Richard Medhurst. His brilliant work has educated and informed us. Let’s hope this horrible treatment stops so he can continue his ethical reporting that serves us so well.
good news, for a change!
yet, the legal toolbox the other side has
been assembling to crush dissent is …
beyond scary and at least as infuriating.
may mr medhurst be able to continue
working unhindered and unharmed.
Wonderful news.
“The fact this case is allowed for almost a year and a half—it’s a crime in and of itself.”
And in addition, the stress, anxiety and frustration it undoubtedly caused Mr. Medhurst.
I hope he sues the bloody brits.
If Richard Medhurst can be accused of encouraging terrorism, by the example of his practicing real journalism, which includes the right to criticize wrongdoing, then, by the now too numerous to list in detail examples of its own nefarious actions, the British regime is proving to be but an imposter of so-called democracy, and is today rather a full-blown expression of an utter subservient political entity to the rapidly expanding neoliberal Imperialist Capitalist system attempting, as is its practice, underhandedly, to transform itself into a “new and improved” version of Western autocratic totalitarian dominance.
do you realize your entire paragraph long comment consists of one, one, sentence?
But the punctuation and content was spot-on.
Good point. And it did not even become periodic until after the phrase, “so-called democracy”.
Playing the pedants game:
Do you realize that Jonathan Coe’s – The Rotters’ Club (2001): Contains a single sentence of 13,955 words, holding the record for the longest in English literature, according to Google AI Overview
just shoot me.