From the Editors 22 October 2024
Asa Winstanley (R Witts Photography)
On Thursday, 17 October 2024, British police raided the London home and seized electronic devices belonging to our colleague Asa Winstanley on the pretext of an investigation into his social media postings conducted under draconian laws criminalizing speech.
These laws would blatantly violate the First Amendment, the constitutional guarantee of free speech and freedom of the press, were they to be applied in the United States.
The seizure included devices used by Asa for his work as associate editor at The Electronic Intifada. The material on such devices ought to enjoy the highest level of protection and privilege against government snooping, interference and fishing expeditions aimed at criminalizing the work of journalists.
The invocation of “counterterrorism” laws as a pretext to raid the home of a prominent investigative journalist such as Asa Winstanley can only be understood as a direct attack on free speech, political retaliation for his journalistic work and an effort to intimidate and terrorize others into silence.
The police raid on Asa’s home comes after a series of similar attacks by British authorities on journalists and activists engaged in work around Palestine, that have rightly been widely condemned.
Journalism is not a crime and this intolerable assault on media freedom must be resisted.
The Electronic Intifada has therefore retained the UK law firm Bindmans to defend its interests in the journalistic material on the seized devices, with the aim of preventing British authorities from accessing such materials.
We will continue to support Asa in every way that we can, to defend his rights and the rights of all journalists against these outrageous, undemocratic and unjustifiable violations by the British state.
NUJ condemns raid on Winstanley
Separately, on Monday, the National Union of Journalists of Britain and Ireland “condemned the rising use of counterterrorism legislation against journalists as an intimidatory measure harmful to public interest journalism and press freedom.”
The NUJ said that it “recognizes the raid of journalist Asa Winstanley’s home on Thursday 17 October 2024, part of so-called ‘Operation Incessantness,’ as the latest in a string of targeted approaches by police officers using anti-terror legislation and contributing to a concerning police culture where the rights of journalists and their ability to ensure the safety of sources is placed at risk.”“Abuse and misuse of counterterror legislation has serious ramifications for public confidence in the police whilst directly threatening the safety of journalists,” said Michelle Stanistreet, the NUJ’s general secretary.
“The UK government cannot on one hand state its commitment to valuing media freedom whilst endorsing the targeting of journalists through raids and seizures of journalistic material in this manner.”
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