Anti-Israel commentator Richard Medhurst detained at Heathrow Airport under UK’s Terrorism Act

British political commentator Richard Medhurst, who is known for his anti-Israel activism, says he was detained at London’s Heathrow Airport for 24 hours and interrogated under section 12 of the UK’s Terrorism Act.

The law under which Medhurst was detained stipulates that expressing beliefs or carrying out actions that “support a proscribed organization” is a criminal offense.

Medhurst, who has voiced support for Hamas amid the terror group’s ongoing war with Israel in Gaza, says on Twitter that he believes he is “the first journalist to be arrested under this provision.”

Six police officers arrested him at the entrance of the aircraft after he disembarked, says Medhurst.

“I feel that this is a political persecution and hampers my ability to work as a journalist,” he adds.

Medhurst regularly casts doubt on the connection between Jews and the Land of Israel by means of racist innuendo about Ashkenazi surnames and misleading claims about modern Hebrew.

He has also spread conspiracy theories regarding Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught, including by insisting that there were no acts of sexual violence committed by Hamas terrorists, and asserting that the victims of the massacre were killed by the IDF, not by Hamas.

His YouTube bio says he was born in Damascus, Syria, and is fluent in English, French, German and Arabic.

As an independent journalist, he has contributed to the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen news site, Iran’s Press TV and Russia’s state-controlled RT television network.