By Nurah Tape – The Palestine Chronicle 
British police arrested human rights activist Sarah Wilkinson after raiding her home on Thursday reportedly for “content that she has posted online,” and subsequently released her on bail.
“The police came to her house just before 7.30am. 12 of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counter terrorism police. They said she was under arrest for ‘content that she has posted online.’ Her house is being raided & they have seized all her electronic devices”, her brother, Jack Wilkinson, said on X.
On Friday, her daughter posted on Wilkinson’s X account that “my mother was hurt, denied meds & bailed to ‘never’ use a phone/laptop.”
The pro-Palestine activist’s arrest caused an outcry across social media, and the hashtag #FreeSarahWilkinsonNOW was picked up across the platform.
The police came to her house just before 7.30am. 12 of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counter terrorism police. They said she was under arrest for "content that she has posted online." Her house is being raided & they have seized all her electronic devices.
— Jack Wilkinson (@JackWilkinsonAA) August 29, 2024
‘1984 Has Arrived’
Musician and Pink Floyd co-founder, Roger Waters, slammed her arrest, saying “So 12 cops come around to the house and arrest you… for standing up for human rights, campaigning against genocide.”
In a video message on X, Waters said police cannot “come around and arrest people who have hearts and minds and have made up their own mind about foreign policy.”
“This is wrong! If you allow this to stand, the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson, and the persecution of my friend Craig Murray, among others, then you have absolutely accepted that England is now a fascist state. 1984 has arrived and is alive and well in the United Kingdom. Over my dead body.”
OVER MY DEAD BODY
British human rights activist and social media influencer @swilkinsonbc was arrested by UK police on 29 August, reportedly over “content she posted online.”
“The police came to her house just before 7.30am. [Twelve] of them in total, some of them in plain… pic.twitter.com/scm2HgZ97g
— Roger Waters ✊ (@rogerwaters) August 29, 2024
According to Wilkinson’s daughter, her 61-year-old mother was arrested “by 16 balaclava-clad thugs.”
‘Anti-Media British Government’
The Lebanese MENA Uncensored news platform demanded her immediate release and said in a statement that Wilkinson was a “news contributor and roving reporter” who had been “providing critical news coverage and analysis in collaboration with the website’s team,” particularly the “unfolding crisis” in Gaza.
She was also a member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition which was aimed at breaking the maritime siege on Gaza.
MENA Uncensored said she was arrested “for supporting the Palestinian resistance and relaying what is really happening in Gaza and the West Bank to the world,” adding that it held “the anti-media British government full responsibility of this stupid act of intimidating and oppressing journalists as well as human rights activist in favor of the israeli occupation entity.”
‘Thought Police’
Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector, whose home was recently raided by the FBI said “This is getting very ‘Minority Report-like” a reference to the movie with dystopian elements.
“The thought police,” Ritter added in a comment on X. “This is the end of British democracy.”
Wilkinson’s arrest comes two weeks after Syrian-British journalist Richard Medhurst was detained under Section 12 of the UK Terrorism Act and held for 24 hours.
‘Political Persecution’ – Journalist Richard Medhurst Arrested under UK Terrorism Act
In a video on X, Medhurst said he was accused of “allegedly ‘expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a prescribed organization’” but police would not explain “what this meant.”
Medhurst believed he was “the first journalist to be arrested under this provision of the Terrorism Act,” and added, “I feel that this is a political persecution and hampers my ability to work as a journalist.”
Palestine Action Targeted
Also on Thursday, the Palestine Action movement said counter-terrorism police have “re-raided one of the #Filton10’s address, over 3 weeks after they were first arrested.”
Several activists from the movement were detained under the Terrorism Act for breaking into an Israeli-owned weapons facility in the Filton area of Bristol earlier this month.
BREAKING: After a targeted campaign by the zionist lobby, Palestine Action's co-founder Richard Barnard is facing three charges for two speeches.
He is accused of supporting a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act and encouraging 'criminal activity'. pic.twitter.com/cWq0qwk15v
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) August 29, 2024
In a later post, the movement said its co-founder Richard Barnard is facing “three charges for two speeches”.
“He is accused of supporting a proscribed organization under the Terrorism Act and encouraging ‘criminal activity’,” it added.
According to a report in The Times, Barnard was accused of “expressing an opinion that is supportive of a proscribed organisation contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000”.
Barnard will also face two charges of encouraging or intending to encourage criminal damage, the report said.
“It follows an investigation by Counter Terrorism Policing North West into a demonstration in St Peter’s Square, Manchester, on October 8 last year,” it added.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Nurah Tape is a South Africa-based journalist. She is an editor with The Palestine Chronicle.
Clearly, the powers that be encourage use of social media so they can monitor what everyone’s doing. So, don’t use social media, pretty simple. Stick to the real news: Palestine Chronicle, Electronic Intifida, Mondoweiss, Middle East Eye, Middle East Monitor, Truthout, and, check out Caitlin Johnstone, Aaron Mate’, Peter Sweden ( all on Substack ).
very dramatic personal opinion and free speech of factual events
She said something but we are not allowed to know what it was. Maybe I support it & maybe I don’t. I don’t know. Can I be arrested for that? I am sure “they” already know where I live.