On Oct. 17, British counterterrorism police raided the home of Asa Winstanley, the associate editor of the pro-Palestine news website Electronic Intifada. Winstanley posted on his X account on Oct. 18: “On Thursday just before dawn, about 10 police barged into my home and seized all computers, phones and other similar devices I use for my journalism. They did not arrest me or charge me with a crime, but explained they were from Counter Terror Command (SO15). I asked why they were doing this. The senior officer would say only ‘social media’ postings I’d made. He refused to be any more specific.”
According to a report on the incident from Electronic Intifada, a letter addressed to Winstanley from the “Counter Terrorism Command” of the Metropolitan Police Service claimed that they were “investigating possible offenses” under sections 1 and 2 of the U.K.’s Terrorism Act (2006), which sets out the purported offense of “encouragement of terrorism.”
The Electronic Intifada report also reminds readers that in August, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service issued a warning to the public to “think before you post” and threatening that it would prosecute anyone deemed guilty of what it calls “online violence.”
