Counterterrorism police have raided the home of the pro-Palestine journalist and author Asa Winstanley, according to his workplace The Electronic Intifada.
Police seized several electronic devices belonging to Winstanley at his North London home yesterday, and told him they were investigating possible offences under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006) which concerns the “encouragement of terrorism.”
An officer informed Winstanley that the investigation was connected with the journalist’s social media posts, although he has not been arrested or charged.
Commenting on the police raid, The Electronic Intifada said: “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 vigour any stories documenting British complicity in Israel’s crimes.”
Winstanley has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter/X, where he focuses on Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, British government support for these crimes, and the Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation, apartheid and genocide.
His most recent investigative article, “How Israel killed hundreds of its own people on 7 October,” details 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.
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Winstanley is also 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.
Britain proscribes anti-Israel groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as “terrorist organisations” and it is a criminal offence to support or glorify them. These laws were brought in by the former Tory government which had a very close relationship with Israel.
Human Rights Watch has called on the British government to repeal certain provisions of the Terrorism Act (2006), noting that “the definition of the encouragement of terrorism offence is overly broad, raising serious concerns about undue infringement on free speech.”
In recent months several pro Palestine journalists and activists, such as Mick Napier, Tony Greenstein and Richard Medhurst, have been arrested for supporting Palestinian resistance.
