At least a dozen police officers raided the home of British pro-Palestine activist and journalist Sarah Wilkinson on Thursday over “content that she has posted online” that allegedly ran afoul of the United Kingdom’s anti-terrorism law.<\/p>\n
“The police came to her house just before 7:30 am,” Wilkinson’s son, Jack Wilkinson, said<\/a> on social media. “There were 12 of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counterterrorism police… Her house is being raided and they have seized all her electronic devices.”<\/p>\n Police \u2013 who later freed Wilkinson on bail \u2013 did not disclose what content she posted that led to her arrest. Wilkinson has been a tireless critic of the U.K. government’s support for Israel<\/a> and has posted many images of the death and destruction in Gaza<\/a>, where Israeli forces have killed and wounded more than 144,000 Palestinians. Israel is on trial for genocide<\/a> at the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Pro-Israel media reported<\/a> Wilkinson called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants an “incredible infiltration” and hailed the late Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh \u2013 who was assassinated<\/a> last month in Iran \u2013 as a “hero.”<\/p>\n Section 12<\/a> of the U.K.’s Terrorism Act of 2000 criminalizes anyone who “invites support for a proscribed organization” or “expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive” of such a group. Violators can be punished with up to 14 years’ imprisonment and a fine. Hamas is included<\/a> on the U.K. government’s list of proscribed groups.<\/p>\n Critics say the U.K. government uses the highly controversial anti-terror law to silence dissent.<\/p>\n Israel-based British journalist Thomas Cook said in a Friday blog post<\/a> that Wilkinson’s arrest is “definitive proof” that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s “authoritarian purges of the Labour left are being rolled out against critics on a nationwide basis.”<\/p>\n “The British prime minister is determined to terrorize into silence critics highlighting his, and now his government’s, complicity with Israel and its genocide in Gaza,” Cook added.<\/p>\n Musician and staunch Israel critic Roger Waters, who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd, said in a video<\/a> posted Thursday on social media that Wilkinson was arrested “for standing up for human rights and campaigning against genocide.”<\/p>\n Thank you @rogerwaters<\/a> & for everyone\u2019s support for my mother\u2019s arrest, interrogation, injuries and theft of her property by 16 balaclava-clad thugs pic.twitter.com\/VeK0UoJY9I<\/a><\/p>\n — Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) August 30, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n