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According to reports from Lebanon's Square TV and The Times of Israel on the 20th, British journalist Richard Medhurst said that because he was engaged in news reporting on Palestine, he was arrested by police after arriving at London Heathrow Airport on a passenger plane and was detained for interrogation.

Medhurst said British police told him he was suspected of violating Section 12 of the UK's Counter-Terrorism Act, which makes it a criminal offense to express confidence or take action to "support a banned organization."

British journalist Richard Medhurst Source: Social platform X

During this round of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Medhurst criticized Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, believing that it was a "genocide" against the Palestinians. Through writing articles and giving speeches, he introduced readers to the differences between various Palestinian resistance organizations, including the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), which is identified as a "terrorist organization" by the British government. On August 19, he posted on the social platform X that he believed he was the "first journalist arrested under this legal provision" in the UK.

In a video, Medhurst detailed his experience at the airport, saying that he was handcuffed by six police officers at the exit of the plane and then detained and interrogated for nearly 24 hours. According to him, the police first confiscated his mobile phone and did not allow him to notify his family for several hours. He was searched twice in 10 minutes, and his belongings, including equipment needed for journalistic work, were searched. He also said that he was detained in a solitary cell that he believed was not suitable for human habitation, and there were cameras monitoring him even when he went to the toilet.

Medhurst said that even though he identified himself as a journalist, the entire process seemed designed to "intimidate, humiliate and dehumanize him." In addition, many of his basic needs, including drinking water, were delayed by the police, which further exacerbated his tension.

"This is done deliberately to make me feel psychologically uneasy... I am not a terrorist, I come from a family of (British) diplomats and I was taught to be anti-war since I was a child," he said in the video. "I condemn terrorism... People like me who speak out and stand up to report on the situation in Palestine are becoming targets." He believes that Western journalists who are reporting on sensitive topics, such as Israeli military operations, are facing increasing censorship and repression.

"The humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip remains the most pressing news story in the world. Yet it seems that any speech...can be misinterpreted as a crime of the highest order." Medhurst also condemned the British government, saying, "Freedom of the press and freedom of speech are indeed under attack. This country is stepping up its crackdown to try to prevent people from speaking out against our government's involvement in genocide."

The Times of Israel reported that according to the personal profile of Medhurst's video platform account, he was born in Damascus, Syria, and speaks fluent English, French, German and Arabic. He is an independent journalist and has written for Lebanon's "Square" TV, which was shut down and blocked by the Israeli government. He has also worked for Iran's PressTV and Russia Today (RT).