The loss of civil liberties is almost always incremental. On a flight home from Greece, the author recently ran into an increasingly familiar and menacing problem.
All of us who care about civil liberties, civil rights, human rights and freedom of the press have had a front-row seat lately to a slide toward what can only be described as authoritarianism. The governments of the U.S., U.K. and even Canada have been working hard, sometimes in a coordinated fashion, to silence dissenting voices. The governments’ tactics have been heavy-handed, to say the least.
Most recently, journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested last week by British authorities. Richard, who is one of the loudest and most important voices in support of human rights for Palestinians, was arrested at Heathrow Airport.
Detaining a journalist is not terribly unusual in the U.K., unfortunately. What usually happens is that the journalist is held for several hours, his phone and laptop are taken from him, he is given a variety of threats that he must appear to answer questions at some future date, and he’s eventually released. Things were different for Richard, however.
Our colleague Chris Hedges wrote,
“After being taken into custody by six police officers, having his electronic equipment seized, and then questioned, he was placed in solitary confinement for almost 24 hours. He was released on pre-charge bail. He will remain under investigation for at least three months and he faces the prospect of being charged with an offense that could carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years.”
And what is the charge that Richard is facing? It’s terrorism. He is being threatened with a charge under Section 12 of the U.K.’s Terrorism Act for his reporting.
Richard Medhurst is not, of course, a terrorist. He’s a journalist working to publish the truth on the ground in Gaza. There are a lot of Western governments that simply don’t like that. (more...)
The Slide Into Authoritarianism
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