The crackdown on Palestine Action, Sarah Wilkinson and Richard Medhurst | Matt Kennard reports

The co-founder of a pro-Palestine campaign group appeared at Westminster magistrates court today charged with terrorist offences. Richard Barnard of Palestine Action is a leading critic of Israel’s bombing of Gaza, which is now estimated to have killed more than 40,000 people. He is accused of “expressing an opinion that is supportive of a proscribed organisation contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000”. The charge follows an investigation into a demonstration held in Manchester last October after Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel. He is also accused of encouraging or intending to encourage criminal damage. Although Palestine Action has repeatedly broken into Israeli weapons factories in the UK, the terrorism charge against Barnard appears to relate exclusively to speeches he has made. Barnard was charged on the day counter terrorism police, some wearing balaclavas, raided the house of Sarah Wilkinson, a prominent pro-Palestinian journalist, seized her phone, passport, and electronic equipment. That was on August 29, at in the morning. According to her son Jack, the police said she was under arrest for “content that she has posted online.” She described later how they handcuffed her and “literally ransacked the house”. An urn in her attic was upturned, scattering her mother’s ashes. “My mother’s urn was desecrated”, she told the Crispin Flintoff Show. She was deprived of her medicine and released, hours later, that evening. Asked why she was arrested, she said: “To silence people reporting on genocide…because I was connected to people in Gaza. To instil fear”. The police asked for phone numbers of her contacts in Gaza, she said. ‘Thought crimes’ Wilkinson, 61, has been an outspoken critic of Britain’s support for Israel. She regularly broadcast and posted news items and videos on the conflict in Gaza, and writes for MENA Uncensored. Her bail conditions, since dropped, prevented her from reporting or commenting on the news, but she does not know what further action will be taken against her. A few days earlier, on August 15, Richard Medhurst, an independent journalist who contributes to the Grayzone website, was arrested at Heathrow airport under the Terrorism Act 2000. He was questioned by police and held for some 15 hours. The police were confused and appeared not to know what exactly he was arrested for, he said. He was asked about his religious belief, a question he described as weird since they had confiscated his crucifix. He said he assumed that whoever was responsible for his arrest were upset by his reporting on Palestine. Although he was released on unconditional bail, he has to go to a police station in three months. They might drop the charges or extend his bail. But he added: “I could be charged at any moment…it is hanging over your head”. Whenever he opens his mouth, he said, he could be regarded as a terrorist, so he is under pressure to censor himself. The message was: “Just watch yourself; we can come after you with harder stuff”. Read more: Read all Huda’s articles on Declassified UK Watch @pal_action