Richard Medhurst, an independent journalist, holds a critical view of Israel’s actions in the context of the Israel-Palestine conflict, particularly concerning Gaza. Medhurst informed his viewers that his office was raided, and he himself was detained and interrogated for 6 hours.
Medhurst has expressed support for Palestinian resistance against what he describes as Israeli oppression. He views the Palestinian struggle as one against occupation, colonization, and what he terms as genocide in Gaza.
He has publicly stated that Palestinians have a legal right to armed struggle against Israel’s occupation, and he frequently criticizes Israel’s military actions in Gaza, describing them not as conflicts or wars but as bloodbaths or genocides where the majority of casualties are civilians.
Richard Medhurst has pointed out the disproportionate casualty rates between Palestinians and Israelis, attributing this to Israel’s military superiority and tactics, including the bombing of UN schools, sniping of journalists and medical personnel, and targeting of civilian infrastructure.
He reverses the narrative often used by Israel and its supporters, where he labels Israel’s actions, like ethnic cleansing and the siege of Gaza, as terrorism rather than the Palestinian resistance.
Medhurst accuses Western countries, particularly the US, UK, and EU, of being complicit in Israel’s actions against Gaza. He suggests that without their support, Israel wouldn’t be able to carry out its military operations.
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After his arrest under UK counter-terrorism laws at Heathrow Airport, Medhurst has highlighted what he sees as persecution for his journalism, particularly for reporting on Palestine. He believes this is an attempt by authorities to silence dissent and critical voices regarding Israel’s policies.
Richard Medhurst envisions a liberated Palestine, suggesting that the damage done by supporting Israel has significant repercussions on Western values like international law, freedom of speech, and left-wing movements.
Richard Medhurst describes in detail what happened
Source: YouTube video, transcribed by NewsVoice
”On Monday, agents from the Austrian Police and Intelligence Services detained me, raided my home, raided my studio, and then interrogated me.
They essentially lured me into a trap. So I received a letter from the government last week from immigration, summoning me for some interview at my residency. I found that a bit odd because I’ve lived here for a while and never had any problems.
So, having nothing to fear, I went to the meeting by myself. And then, after a few simple questions, they suddenly issued a thinly veiled threat saying they were considering revoking my residency because of my alleged reporting on Palestine and Lebanon.
So, of course, my answer was no comment. And as soon as I thought everything was over, I was ambushed by a group of plainclothes agents. They entered the room flashing their badges in my face, and they said that they were the Austrian equivalent of MI5 or the FBI.
They detained me, and then they served me with a warrant from the state prosecutor to search my home, search my studio, and take all of my devices. Why? Because they think that I, a Christian Englishman, am a member of Hamas.
Yes, you heard that correctly. They are accusing me of being a member of Hamas, of being part of the Aziz al-Din Qassam Brigades, of disseminating propaganda, encouraging terrorism, being affiliated with organized crime and a terrorist group.
I mean, it’s like reading something out of the Twilight Zone. So they seized my phone, and they drove me to my residence, ransacked the place. They even took devices which I repeatedly told them did not belong to me.
Then, they drove me to my studio and turned the place upside down. So I had to watch my devices being disassembled before my very eyes by a group of strangers. All these tools that I spent years building and investing in, you know, the core of my journalistic profession.
They took, in total, they took like five, six different laptops and computers, phones, USB sticks, hardware. drives, DVDs, you name it. And although the warrant was for electronic devices only, for some reason, they took photos of my residence, photos of the office, of the bathroom.
They helped themselves to anything they saw, books, papers, documents, cupboards, closets. To tell you the truth of the agents treated me kindly and with respect, they didn’t deny me any of my basic needs.
Now, as you recall, I was unjustly arrested a few months ago in London. They jailed me for almost 24 hours under the Terrorism Act. Strangely enough, last week, the police in England again extended this investigation and then suddenly, this happened in Vienna.
I don’t think that is a mere coincidence, okay? The first thing I asked the Austrian agents was, did my government put you up to this? And they replied, no, Britain doesn’t talk to us. Well, forgive me, but I find that a bit hard to believe.
I do think that this persecution, this raid is related to the case in Britain. I think it’s being coordinated with Britain. Now my colleague, Stefania Marizzi, who, works on the Snowden papers with Glenn Greenwald, she reported last month in El Fato Cotellano that the British police seized a graphene OS device from me and that it was very unlikely that they’d be able to crack it.
So I suppose that’s why Britain asked the Austrians to raid me, grab anything they could find and go on this massive fishing expedition. You know, the warrant even mentions my arrest in London to try and bolster their case.
The Austrian agents, they asked me for the passwords to my devices and I said, no, because as a journalist, I have an ethical, a professional obligation to protect my sources. None of them were compromised.
During the raid, I spoke briefly with the techs who were extracting my devices, you know, from one nerd to another. And they told me that if they can’t crack the devices, they send them outside sometimes to other countries, to other law enforcement agencies and ask them for help.
So that further indicated to me that this could very well be related to what’s happening in the UK against me. Now, all these devices are work devices. They’re my journalistic tools. I have been left with literally nothing.”
***
”And the next day, they drop by and give me a list of all the things they seized. It was 19 pages long. You know, as a matter of fact, I’ve spent the last months writing a book on cybersecurity as I’m unable to report and work normally under these circumstances. And they even confiscated my book, the book that I’ve been working on for two years now.
You know, I just riffled through the manuscripts and the notes like it was nothing. So, after watching all of my gear being dismantled, I was then ordered under this warrant to participate in an interrogation.
So these agents, they took me down with them to the station and I said two words, no comment. And that was it. Then they fingerprinted me, they palm printed me, they took mug shots and my DNA. And after six, seven hours of this, I was finally allowed to leave.
I categorically deny all of these accusations by the British and Austrian governments. I’m not a terrorist; I am a journalist, and they bloody well know it. Some of these Austrian accusations are very similar to the British ones, which again tells me that this is somehow coordinated.
But it’s actually a massive escalation. They are accusing me of being a member of a prescribed organization. I mean, this is insanity on another level. This is detached from reality. And they’re trying to make a snowball out of nothing.
So now, because of my reporting, I’m under investigation for quote-unquote terrorism in two countries. I could face up to 14 years in prison in the UK, plus another two to five years if I don’t give them the passwords to my phones, and maybe another 10 years in prison in Austria and my residency potentially being revoked.
And why, for what? For journalism, because of my reporting. I mean, this is insane. This is disproportionate state violence. And it’s not just an attack on me. This is an attack on the entire profession, on freedom of speech, and on democracy itself.
They are denying me my human right to free speech. I’m being punished and persecuted in my country of origin in, the UK, and in my country of residence in, Austria. I come from a family that worked to establish peace around the world, a family that raised me to stand against terrorism and injustice.
Please help raise awareness. This is not just an affront on me, but on all of us. Inform your friends, inform your family, your colleagues, write to your representatives in parliament. And again, I want to stress how the police, they came in here in this room.
They seized all my equipment, all of my gear, they left me with nothing. If you’re able to, please consider contributing on GoFundMe and PayPal so that I can get back up and running. The links are down below.
It would really make a difference and go a long way. Thank you so much.”
Related links to Richard Medhurst
- PayPal: https://paypal.me/papichulomin
- GoFundMe: http://tiny.cc/GoFundMe-Richard
- Rumble: https://rumble.com/richardmedhurst
- Odysee: https://odysee.com/@richardmedhurst
- Richard Medhurst on Substack: https://richardmedhurst.substack.com