Richard Medhurst: Austrian police threaten pro-Palestinian journalist with 10 years in prison
We hereby share an unofficial translation of an article by Rote Fahne, Austria:
British journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested by police at his home in Austria on Tuesday and interrogated for over six hours together with secret service agents. The “crime”: pro-Palestinian reporting.
On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: “I was arrested this week by the Austrian police and the secret service. They searched my home and office and confiscated all my equipment. They accused me of being a member of Hamas and threatened me with 10 years in prison. Journalism is not a crime.”
Medhurst had previously been threatened with 14 years in prison in Great Britain because of his position on Palestine. According to Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000, he had “expressed an opinion or view that supports a banned organization.” The Austrian case is a “clear escalation,” says Medhurst, because here he is already being accused of being a member of Hamas, although he clearly denies all allegations.
The case is within an international panorama of attacks against journalists who do not submit to the US hegemonic position. A week earlier, the Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abuminah was arrested in Switzerland and threatened with prison. Abuminah has since been released and deported.
In his work as a journalist, Medhurst often reports on things that the monopoly media prefer to keep silent about. In addition to his reporting on the oppression of the Palestinians, Medhurst is also known for his reports on Julian Assange’s trials. It is not entirely clear which of his statements are defined as “terrorist” and of course no evidence of his membership in Hamas was presented. Rather, a “wrong” opinion is clearly being prosecuted with a draconian prison sentence. For example, in an article from January 30, Medhurst wrote: “A genocidal regime, which is being given amnesty by many in the West, feels more empowered to escalate its terror campaigns than to cease them in the interests of relative calm. But as the Palestinian resistance groups have shown so far, the brutal injustice will be met with a corresponding response.”
In relation to the US President’s statements regarding Gaza, the ORF [Translator’s note: one of the public broadcasting channels in Austria] has written in recent days about plans for “ethnic cleansing” and that Israel will exploit this. It is pure imperialist double standards that not those who carry out and support genocide are called “terrorists”, but those who report on it journalistically and defend the resistance against the genocide. Obviously, the “Western” media coverage should not be “disturbed” by journalists like Medhurst – and Austria is willingly participating in this anti-democratic approach.
