UK counterterrorism police detained journalist Kit Klarenberg and subjected him to an intense interrogation over his political views and journalistic output, an alarming new report has revealed.
"As soon as… Klarenberg landed in his home country of Britain on May 17, 2023, six anonymous plainclothes counter-terror officers detained him" and "quickly escorted him to a back room, where they grilled him for over five hours about his reporting for [The Grayzone]," explained Max Blumenthal, the head of the independent investigative outlet.
Blumenthal wrote Tuesday that "during Klarenberg’s detention, police seized the journalist’s electronic devices and SD cards, fingerprinted him, took DNA swabs, and photographed him intensively," while threatening to "arrest him if he did not comply."
Klarenberg reportedly remains under investigation by the British government, and although it’s unclear what specific crime he could be charged with, Britain’s counterterrorism police seemed to have three main areas of interest: the content of his reporting, the outlet in which he published it, and whether he was doing so at the behest of the Russian government.
First, "the officers asked Klarenberg about articles including his report on the CIA’s recruitment of would-be 9/11 hijackers, as well as his thoughts on 9/11 conspiracy theories," Blumenthal explained.
"Then came a blizzard of questions relating to The Grayzone: How much was Klarenberg paid by this publication, how often, and into which bank account? Who owned the site? How much contact did he have with Max Blumenthal, the author of this article and editor of The Grayzone? Had he met Blumenthal in person?"
Later, "counter-terror officers… rattled off a series of unfounded questions related to Russia: Does The Grayzone have an agreement of any kind with Russia’s Federal Security Bureau (FSB) to publish hacked material? Has Klarenberg knowingly been in contact with any FSB operatives? Is he in touch with current or former personnel of Russian state media? Who owns The Grayzone and is it sponsored by Russia?"
As the outlet in question has repeatedly noted, however, "The Grayzone is a fully independent outlet" that "does not accept funding or support from any state, including Russia."
The report went on to state that officials returned Klarenburg's two memory cards and his tablet, which was said to have "masking tape over its cameras." A third card was kept over allegations it was "relevant to criminal proceedings," but that it would be returned once their probe was closed.