https://sputnikglobe.com/20240821/journalist-medhurst-arrest-is-the-assange-effect-continued-1119852811.html
Journalist Medhurst Arrest is the ‘Assange Effect’ Continued
Journalist Medhurst Arrest is the ‘Assange Effect’ Continued
Sputnik International
The arrest of independent journalist Richard Medhurst on Thursday at Heathrow Airport in London is a continuation of trying to intimidate journalists worldwide from reporting on the empire.
2024-08-21T03:11+0000
2024-08-21T03:11+0000
2024-08-21T03:11+0000
analysis
julian assange
richard medhurst
scott ritter
united kingdom (uk)
foreign agents registration act (fara)
heathrow airport
fbi
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The arrest and detainment of Medhurst and several other journalists stems from the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, activist, organizer, and commentator Misty Winston told Sputnik’s The Critical Hour on Tuesday.Assange’s Wikileaks released a video named “Collateral Murder” in 2010, which showed US helicopters firing on Iraqi citizens and medical personnel. A few months later, Swedish prosecutors issued the first arrest warrant for Assange, accusing him of sexual assault. Assange denied the accusations and the investigation was eventually dropped but that kicked off a 14-year saga that saw the publisher be confined for over 12 years, first in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for nearly eight years and then more than four years in the UK’s notorious Belmarsh Prison.Assange was released in June of this year after signing a plea deal with the United States, which was seeking his extradition on espionage charges. By that time, according to his family, his health had seriously deteriorated. He has rarely been seen in public since.Like Assange, Medhurst was critical of the Western empire and the military-industrial complex. As were other journalists who have recently been detained by UK authorities, including Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray, and Vanessa Beeley, all of whom have been arrested or detained by authorities in recent months.Journalist Glenn Greenwald's late husband and former Brazilian politician David Miranda, who was instrumental in revealing the Edward Snowden leak, was also detained in the UK under the same law that Medhurst was arrested for. Miranda successfully sued the UK government, arguing that the law did not apply to those participating in journalism. However, the law has since been amended to include “expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed (deemed a terrorist) organization,” if “in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organization.”“This is not the first time that this has happened, but it is going. As I said when the Assange stuff was going on, this will continue to get worse. They have opened Pandora’s box,” explained Winston. “They’ve normalized this attack on journalism. And so it is going to continue. We’re going to see more and more journalists being censored, being arrested, being imprisoned, all of those things. And it’ll continue until we start to stand up and say, no, thank you. We don’t want this.”Beyond simply attempting to imprison or intimidate the individual journalists being harassed, these actions have a larger goal of intimidating journalists worldwide, in what is known as the “chilling effect.”Earlier this month, former UN weapons inspector and frequent Sputnik radio guest and columnist Scott Ritter’s house was raided by the FBI on alleged Foreign Agent Registry Act (FARA) violations. Ritter has denied the charges.“You know, all of us need to be peeping out our windows for when we’re going to see camouflaged guys come wandering up with their flashbang grenades to give us the Uhuru 3 treatment,” exclaimed The Critical Hour co-host Garland Nixon, referring to member of the African People’s Socialist Party, who are currently facing alleged FARA violation charges.“It’s not just about Kit. It’s not just about Richard Medhurst,” concluded Winston. “This is meant to send a message to all other journalists and commentators out there, that if you dare speak against Israel and the empire, this is what will happen to you. And so, it’s really going to create a chilling effect across that type of journalism.”
https://sputnikglobe.com/20240626/assange-to-speak-to-public-when-recovered---stella-assange-1119143871.html
https://sputnikglobe.com/20220730/fbi-raids-african-peoples-socialist-party-claims-the-group-was-controlled-by-fsb-1097960392.html
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richard medhurst arrest, journalist arrested on terrorism charges, chilling effect, censorship of journalists in the uk, terrorism act 2000
richard medhurst arrest, journalist arrested on terrorism charges, chilling effect, censorship of journalists in the uk, terrorism act 2000
Journalist Medhurst Arrest is the ‘Assange Effect’ Continued
On Monday, independent UK-based journalist Richard Medhurst posted a video saying that he was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday and held for nearly 24 hours under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The arrest and detainment of Medhurst and several other journalists stems from the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, activist, organizer, and commentator Misty Winston told Sputnik’s
The Critical Hour on Tuesday.
“This is the Assange effect. I hate to bring it back to Julian Assange, but I think that is a crucial part of this puzzle here,” Winston argued. “We saw what they did to Julian Assange and we saw the way that opened up the door for this type of behavior and for other journalists to be targeted this way.”
Assange’s Wikileaks released a video named “Collateral Murder” in 2010, which showed US helicopters firing on Iraqi citizens and medical personnel. A few months later, Swedish prosecutors issued the first arrest warrant for Assange, accusing him of sexual assault. Assange denied the accusations and the investigation was eventually dropped but that kicked off a 14-year saga that saw the publisher be confined for over 12 years, first in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for nearly eight years and then more than four years in the UK’s notorious Belmarsh Prison.
Assange was released in June of this year after signing a plea deal with the United States, which was seeking his extradition on espionage charges. By that time, according to his family, his health had seriously deteriorated. He has rarely been seen in public since.
Like Assange, Medhurst was critical of the Western empire and the military-industrial complex. As were other journalists who have recently been detained by UK authorities, including Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray, and Vanessa Beeley, all of whom have been arrested or detained by authorities in recent months.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald's late husband and former Brazilian politician David Miranda, who was instrumental in revealing the Edward Snowden leak, was also detained in the UK under the same law that Medhurst was arrested for. Miranda successfully sued the UK government, arguing that the law did not apply to those participating in journalism. However, the law has since been amended to include “expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed (deemed a terrorist) organization,” if “in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organization.”
“This is not the first time that this has happened, but it is going. As I said when the Assange stuff was going on, this will continue to get worse. They have opened Pandora’s box,” explained Winston. “They’ve normalized this attack on journalism. And so it is going to continue. We’re going to see more and more journalists being censored, being arrested, being imprisoned, all of those things. And it’ll continue until we start to stand up and say, no, thank you. We don’t want this.”
Beyond simply attempting to imprison or intimidate the individual journalists being harassed, these actions have a larger goal of intimidating journalists worldwide, in what is known as the “chilling effect.”
“Really, [Assange] was just the proverbial head on a stake outside the castle walls. They wanted to send a message that if you dare to criticize the empire, this is what we will do to you,” explained Winston.
Earlier this month, former UN weapons inspector and frequent Sputnik radio guest and columnist Scott Ritter’s house was raided by the FBI on alleged Foreign Agent Registry Act (FARA) violations. Ritter has denied the charges.
“You know, all of us need to be peeping out our windows for when we’re going to see camouflaged guys come wandering up with their flashbang grenades to give us the Uhuru 3 treatment,” exclaimed The Critical Hour co-host Garland Nixon, referring to member of the African People’s Socialist Party, who are currently facing alleged FARA violation charges.
“It’s not just about Kit. It’s not just about Richard Medhurst,” concluded Winston. “This is meant to send a message to all other journalists and commentators out there, that if you dare speak against Israel and the empire, this is what will happen to you. And so, it’s really going to create a chilling effect across that type of journalism.”
