UK police raid home, seize devices of EI’s Asa Winstanley

Ali Abunimah From the Editors 17 October 2024

A man holds up and speaks into a microphone sitting between two people

Asa Winstanley (R Witts Photography)

British counterterrorism police on Thursday raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley.

Approximately 10 officers arrived at Winstanley’s North London home before 6 am and served the journalist with warrants and other papers authorizing them to search his house and vehicle for devices and documents.

A letter addressed to Winstanley from the “Counter Terrorism Command” of the Metropolitan Police Service indicates that the authorities are “aware of your profession” as a journalist but that “notwithstanding, police are investigating possible offenses” under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006). These provisions set out the purported offense of “encouragement of terrorism.”

An officer conducting Thursday’s raid informed Winstanley that the investigation was connected with the journalist’s social media posts. Attempts to reach the Metropolitan Police Service for comment for this story have been unsuccessful.

Although his devices were seized, Winstanley was not arrested and has not been charged with any offense.

Winstanley is active on several social media platforms, and has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter/X, where he frequently shares articles, other peoples’ opinions and his own comments on Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, British government support for these crimes, and the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.

The vaguely worded provisions relating to “encouragement of terrorism” would clearly violate the First Amendment of the United States Constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech, however the United Kingdom lacks similar constitutional protections for freedom of expression.

The draconian legislation “curtails a range of freedoms,” according to University of Edinburgh law professor Andrew Cornford, including “the freedoms to discuss controversial topics openly, and to share moral, political and religious opinions.”

Human Rights Watch has called on the British government to repeal the repressive provisions of the Terrorism Act (2006), noting that “the definition of the encouragement of terrorism offense is overly broad, raising serious concerns about undue infringement on free speech.”

In August, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service issued a warning to the British public to “think before you post” and threatening that it would prosecute anyone it deemed guilty of what it calls “online violence.”

“Journalism is not a crime”

The police raid on Winstanley’s home and the seizure of his devices appears to be the latest use by British authorities of repressive “counterterrorism” legislation to crack down on journalists and activists involved in reporting on or protesting Israel’s crimes, including its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

In December, Winstanley reported for The Electronic Intifada on how British counterrorism police arrested Mick Napier and Tony Greenstein, two prominent activists, for saying they support the Palestinian right to resist Israel – a right enshrined in international law.

As part of his bail conditions, Greenstein, an author and contributor to The Electronic Intifada, was ordered “not to post on X (formerly Twitter) in regards to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.”

In mid-August, British journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested on arrival at London’s Heathrow Airport, detained under the Terrorism Act (2000), and had his phone and recording devices that he used for his journalism seized.

“Richard Medhurst’s arrest and detention for almost 24 hours using terrorism legislation is deeply concerning and will likely have a chilling effect on journalists in the UK and worldwide, in fear of arrest by UK authorities simply for carrying out their work,” Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the UK’s National Union of Journalists and Anthony Bellanger, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, said at the time in a joint statement.

“Both the NUJ and IFJ are shocked at the increased use of terrorism legislation by the British police in this manner,” Stanistreet and Bellanger added. “Journalism is not a crime. Powers contained in anti-terror legislation must be deployed proportionately – not wielded against journalists in ways that inevitably stifle press freedom.”

Nonetheless, later in August, British counterrorism police raided the home of Sarah Wilkinson, a Palestine solidarity activist with a large following, also reportedly in relation to content she posted online.

Full solidarity with Asa Winstanley

The letter handed to Winstanley by police refers to the raid on his home as being part of “Operation Incessantness,” perhaps indicative of a broad and ongoing crackdown against critics of Israel’s British-backed crimes.

Winstanley’s most recent investigative article, “How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on 7 October,” brings together a year of The Electronic Intifada’s reporting, along with new information, detailing Israel’s use of the Hannibal Directive – a secret order that allows Israeli forces to kill their own citizens rather than allowing them to be taken captive.

Winstanley is the author of Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn, a book culminating from his years of reporting on Britain’s Labour Party while it was in opposition.

Since 2019, the Labour Party launched an investigation and has made legal threats in apparent retaliation for Winstanley’s journalism.

Now that Labour is the UK’s ruling party, it has the potential to use the apparatus of the state against those it views as its own – or Israel’s – political enemies.

The raid on Winstanley’s home is clearly intended to intimidate and silence him, as well as other journalists and activists.

As far as The Electronic Intifada is concerned, it will have only the opposite effect. Our colleague Asa Winstanley can count on our full support and solidarity, and as a publication we will continue to pursue with vigor any stories documenting British complicity in Israel’s crimes.

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Comments

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laure heinz replied on

I am astounded at the draconian law and behavior of the British government treating pro-Palestinian Journalists as criminals, thus performing the task of honest, forthright journalism as a crime. I just yesterday watched the Electronic Intifada Livestream and admired Asa's reporting work on the Hannibal directive, which I have been following throughout this past year of Israeli genocidal insanity. Full solidarity with Asa!!!

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Pulsa Denura replied on

What is stunning is how these reporters in UK birthplace of the Magna Carta are being prosecuted -NOT for thought 'crimes' against their own land, the United Kingdom- but for thoughts against a FOREIGN GOVT and a FOREIGN COUNTRY. NOT Gr Britain!
Can you imagine a Libyan being jailed by Germany for thought 'crimes' against the Vatican??

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SeekingAletheia replied on

Saying that we have no such freedom of expression laws in the UK is legal ignorance. We have the human rights act and the police are in breach of article 10.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”

They also can NOT deny someone the right to expression on a public platform per this same legal article, again they are overreaching their powers beyond their remit. More people need to counter sue this illiberal government and its finger men.

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tony greenstein replied on

SeekingAletheia is too complacent by half. Yes we have incorporated Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights into British Law but thanks to the interpretive role of British judges it is fast becoming a dead letter.

You may say that 'They also can NOT deny someone the right to expression on a public platform per this same legal article' but I was arrested on October 4th at a picket of the Israeli Ambassador's home for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany. The Metropolitan Police have arrested numerous people on this pretext.

Theory is one thing. Actualite is another, as Asa has just discovered.

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David Riddell replied on

Just Tell the truth and see where it takes you. Give the evidence to support your report, and no psychosis will overtake you - as it will your jailers, though they be the British government themselves, acting illegally (again). Enforcing the law by breaking the law NEVER works out well for those who do it.

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Max Gurman replied on

Asa’s reporting has shone a light on the entity’s crimes, and they are scared of him. The west is precisely the dystopia it claims other places to be. Full solidarity with Asa and his courageous and impeccable journalism. Please let us know if there is anything we, your audience, can do to help support him.

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Dena Bugel-Shunra replied on

I will just state publicly that I stand with Asa, with the Electronic Intifada, and with the Palestinian people. Israel may try to outlaw reporting on the genocide it is committing, using the blunt tools of UK law. But it will never succeed.

Solidarity.

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Keith Woodhall replied on

Hello,

As a long time reader and viewer of your excellent electronic intifada I'm sadly surprised but not shocked at what has been happening to Journalists ever since the laughably named Labour party were installed in power. Starmes time as head of the cps showed that he was a power hungry dictator driven to use all the powers of the state to punish anyone standing against US and UK foreign policy. We are now seeing what starmer will do now that all those powers are at his fingertips. I hope Asa is alright and deterred ny this cynical use of out of date "anti terror" laws. Shame on starmer and shame on this cesspit of a racist country for "electing" him to power. Long live Palestine. Long live the resistance.

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Nick P replied on

I'm not sure about this at all. Starmer is hardly a "power hungry dictator", he is a political novice, but with "qualities" useful to the right, like a complete absence of scruple, over-inflated personal ambition, and an ability to stonewall. Witness how, despite his official position as DPP (heading the Crown Prosecutions Service) he wriggles out of blame for the Savile scandal ("I wasn't the investigating officer") and Al Fayed ("the papers didn't cross my desk") and none of our noble media moguls seems see fit to challenge this feeble version of events. Let's say that he's a useful tool, certainly a hungry one, who has been "groomed" by Trilateral Commission grandees, and who has displayed sufficient ambition to be useful to the anti-socialists in the labour Party, while bringing little or nothing new to the debate. Precisely what Blair, Mandelson et al require of a "leader" whom they can lead.

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Clare replied on

Can't believe this! Absolutely shocking. I look forward to the day that all the leaders if the so called free worlds are up in front of a judge for complicency to war crimes and allowing and assisting genocide 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸💔💔💔💔💔

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PC TERROR PLOD WITH AN IQ OF 7 FOOT NINE replied on

By continuing these filthy attacks on fundamental freedoms, alongside other actions of the British state in crushing opposition and silencing its critics, the United Kingdom has shown itself up to be probably the most repressive country in the world. I am ashamed to hold a British passport in light of this.

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Ramona E Lawson replied on

This is one of the many reasons I donate to the Electronic Intifada.
We must be allowed to seek out the truth on the ground and share it as widely as possible.
Stay strong Ada
Much love and solidarity,
Ramona

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Yussuf ally replied on

I was born into Apartheid and the govt used the "Suppression of Communism.Act " to incarcerate anyone whom dared criticise the ruling Nationalist govt of the day ,regardless whether you were communist or not.Any dissent was swiftly and brutally dealth with by.using a swathe of draconian laws .
I have come to realise on reflection that these laws are abused and used out of fear by governments because they are afraid of the truth .Anyone with a mustard seed of morality and humanity can.see what the Zionists are doing ...it's abhorrent and barbaric.The current Labour govt are power crazy and Starmererer is determined to stifle any criticism of Israel by using these oppressive laws

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Faisaling replied on

Asa, EI and all other serious journalists out there, thank you for your hard work.

The world appreciates independent resistance journalism as much as the real resistance on the ground. ✊🏾

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Michael McLaughlin replied on

I am posting this story to academic friends. Why are Zionists the only ones allowed to speak in England. Thank God Ireland knows better.
Thanks for all you do. Palestine will never die.

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tom hall replied on

Full support to Asa Winstanley for your unflagging resolve as a journalist. Your work is among the most vital expressions of free speech and principled reporting on Zionist power in the UK.

Clearly, the absence of a written constitution protecting the rights of British citizens is a factor in the rising number of arrests and police interventions of reporters in that country. Incidentally, the UK is one of five nations lacking a legal constitution, the others being Saudi Arabia (which enjoys very harmonious- and mutually profitable- relations with Britain) , Canada, New Zealand (the latter two being colonial offshoots of Britain) and Israel (which continues to employ emergency regulations from the period of the British Mandate over Palestine). Does anyone see a pattern here?

In a rare admission, US/Israeli colonist and "legal expert" Eugene Kontorovich has stated that "Israel never had a written constitution because it could never afford one." Of course, he's correct. A formal constitution according superior rights to one section of the population and stripping all others of even elementary protection wouldn't exactly accord with notions of "the only democracy in the Middle East". As for the UK, that same predatory rogue delivered himself of the view that Britain doesn't need a constitution. From a Zionist perspective, he's right again. Such a legal framework would likely only restrict the power of Israel and the US within the United Kingdom.

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Risha replied on

I am SO ashamed of our government, they have taken the great out of Britain and turned it into 'Cruel Britannia' Solidarity with Asa who is a supreme journalist!

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Samina Ali replied on

Solidarity with Asa Wistanley for his brilliant work. Is there any way for him to get better legal protection? It’s kind of tautological but still.

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Jamila Levasseur replied on

Asa, sending total support and love for your commitment to truth and Palestinian liberation. We stand with you 100%.

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Chris Main replied on

Too many good journalist and activists are being trawled in this way, intimidated and their gear impounded in a clear campaign to silence people. The more they do it the louder our voices, the more that more voices join the struggle. Best wishes to yo Asa and everyone at EI.

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Conchita Varicak replied on

This is exactly what used to happen in Andalucia ... the police raiding people's homes in this manner as a form of political harassment and as a way to find information about people when people would not freely volunteer information themselves... this is how the civil guards created their black lists of EVERYONE who might oppose Francisco Franco. I am shocked that this is happening here in England and in North London specially. These raids serve to split people in order to target individuals. The police these days do not confiscate book collections... computers hold a lot more information ... to today they confiscate computers instead: Julian Assange has always been on the button about these things - also persecuted in London. These are the problems and we need to stop the censorship via government deliberate oppression: the general public has to do more than just marches in the streets to stop these police as a tool for censorship and repression of human rights of ordinary people. Shamefully corrupted David Lammy of the Labour Party.

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Rakel H Petursdottir replied on

I too condem the british authority action against journalist Asa Winstanley in his home. Journalism is not a crime. My full solidarity with Asa!

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Valerie Losell replied on

As Jon Elmer, Justin Podur, Laith Marouf, Greg Stoker keep saying, this is just the beginning of repression in the socalled democratic western vassal states of the Empire.
Decide if you are ready for house arrest, incarceration, garnishing of your wages, up to concentration camps for dissidents. or shut up as the powers wish you/ we would.
Canada has a long record of concentration/ work camps for undesirables and violent push back at even speech so look out all….,

It’s going to get worse and soon.

As Omar al Akad’s upcoming essay book’s title says, ONE DAY EVERYONE WILL ALWAYS HAVE BEEN AGAINST THIS.
but there will be a lot of cowards revealed
and everyday heroes tested before then.

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Stephen webb replied on

Thank you Asa for the fantastic reporting and keeping the truth alive in these terrible times.

Solidarity

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Barry Greene replied on

I’m shocked but not surprised to hear this morning that the terrorist thugs masquerading as Met police, whoring themselves to the terrorist Starmer and his terrorist gang masquerading as a ‘government’, raided Asa’s home and stole his devices. It may seem that all power and strength to pull this fascist sh*t lie with the rancid, genocide & terrorism-enabling excuse for a government, but this disgraceful, insulting assault only adds to the steadily growing weight of justice and civil, moral blowback from the entire workd which inexorably pushes back against the genocide-complicit British & all western governments, their terrorist ‘leaders’ and their complicit mainstream media, and will bring about the destruction of the illegitimate terrorist ‘state’ of ‘Israel’ and its evil, depraved cult of zionism. Absolute, full and vocal solidarity with Asa, EI, the Palestinian people and their righteous, indestructible cause. Your latest article on October 7 in EI is brilliant, Asa - thank you for it - and is heavy, incontestable evidence & testimony in the weight of justice I mentioned above.
I realize that it may be a ridiculously uphill battle, but I do hope legal retribution can be taken against the Met and the British government.
We could all see from your weekly appearances on the EI lifestream and from all of your work that you are strong and unassailable. It goes without saying that you will prevail. Strength and power to you, Guapo!👍🇵🇸🥂

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Prabha replied on

So sorry to hear this about your comrades, EI. Thank-you, Asa and all of you for being bold and speaking up despite all the repression on us in the so-called liberal and democratic West.

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Ali Abunimah

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine, now out from Haymarket Books.

Also wrote One Country: A Bold-Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse. Opinions are mine alone.