Alison McDermott’s Courageous Whistleblower Journey at Sellafield Nuclear Site

In a sobering session at the European Compliance and Ethics Conference
(ECEC) 2023, whistleblower Alison McDermott spoke to Katy Diggory about the
horrendous abuse and litigation she faced after speaking up about serious
systemic issues at the Sellafield Ltd nuclear site.

After being ripped apart by the courts and risking her social standing and career, Alison
still spoke up to protect current and future employees. We are blown away
by her bravery and resolute commitment to ethical values! She also shared
what changes organizations need to put in place to protect whistleblowers:
among them, a confidential way for people to report cases of wrongdoing in
their workplaces.

 EQS Group 26th Oct 2023

November 12, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

Detained Under UK Terrorism Law, Whistleblower Says Police Questioned His Support for Assange

SCHEERPOST, November 8, 2023, By Mohamed Elmaazi / The Dissenter

On his way back home from Iceland, British whistleblower and former diplomat Craig Murray was stopped by police and interrogated at Scotland’s Glasgow Airport under Schedule 7 of the United Kingdom Terrorism Act 2000.

Murray was subjected to a barrage of questions on October 16 for nearly an hour.

The questions partly focused on his sources of income and his connection to WikiLeaks, the Don’t Extradite Assange campaign, and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his family.

The former diplomat has since made his way to Switzerland to, in his words, “seek protection from the United Nations.” Sharof Azizov of the Switzerland-based group Justice for All International, and Emeritus Professor of International Law Douwe Korff, have co-authored a letter detailing Murray’s situation and expressing their “grave concern” over his Schedule 7 stop.

The letter, which is addressed to a number of U.N. experts known as special rapporteurs and based in Geneva, requests an urgent meeting to discuss Murray’s case, and the use of terrorism laws to “intimidate” and “silence” journalists and activists.

The U.N. experts addressed in the letter include the Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.

‘You Do Not Have A Right To A Lawyer’

The powers granted to “examining officers” to question people arriving in the U.K., at any air, sea or land port, are incredibly broad. A person can be detained and interrogated for up to six hours without being arrested. The normal rights afforded to people questioned by the police (“Miranda warnings,” as they are known in the U.S.) do not apply. 

Murray, who said that he was “used to life being a bit strange,” told The Dissenter that three police officers, two male and one female, were waiting for him after passport control. “They just walked up to me, identified themselves as police and asked to see my passport.” 

“They then took me to a small room, it was like a small office. I sat down and they said, ‘We are detaining you. You are not arrested, you are detained, therefore you do not have the right to a lawyer, you do not have the right to remain silent,’” Murray added. 

When police asked about his job, he explicitly identified himself as a “journalist”.

“They didn’t identify themselves at all. They didn’t show anything with their names on. No badges, they were just in plain clothes,” he said.

The Terrorism Act 2000 was controversial at the time that it was passed by the U.K. Parliament over a year before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. The law permits detention without charge for 48 hours, and subsequent amendments allow detention for up to 28 days without charge, “the longest of any common law country,” according to the U.K.-based civil liberties group JUSTICE.

The government may ban organizations and criminalize association with those organizations as well as speech deemed to be supportive of those groups or organizations.

Groups banned under the Terrorism Act include those associated with the Basque, Kurdish, Tamil, and Palestinian struggles for self-determination. Entire U.K.-based diaspora communities have found themselves subject to stops, interrogations, surveillance, arrest, and asset seizures under the various U.K. terrorism laws.

Returning From Assange Defense Meeting In Iceland…………………………………

Are You Financed By WikiLeaks?’

“They were keen to tie me to Assange or WikiLeaks,” Murray said. They asked, “‘Are you financed by [Don’t Extradite Assange]? Are you financed by WikiLeaks? Are you financed by the Assange Family?” The answer to all of those questions was “no,” Murray added.

“I wouldn’t even know why [they asked these questions]. Even if the answer was yes, I don’t know what the crime would be.” The police also demanded to know if Murray belonged to any groups.

“I’m not really a member of anything,” he said, other than the pro-Scottish independence Alba Party and the FDA, a trade union for civil servants.

………………………………………….. The interrogators seized Murray’s laptop and phone, and took photocopies of all of his documents, including bank cards, library card, and Alba Party membership card.

While they returned his laptop, Murray still has yet to have his phone returned to him.

The law says that seized items should be returned within seven days. He was told his phone was being retained for “the purpose of investigation,” though Murray has yet to find out what investigation. “I still don’t know what the hell is happening.”

Targeting Journalists And Human Rights Activists

Journalists, activists, and human rights workers are among the hundreds of thousands of everyday men, women, and children who have been subjected to Schedule 7 stops.

Schedule 7, which was even more expansive a decade ago, allows police, customs agents, and immigration officers to stop any adult or child and subject them to questioning. ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Between 2009 and 2019, 419,000 people have been subjected to Schedule 7 stops, according to data analysed by CAGE. Out of those, only 83 were charged with an offense and only 30 people, less than 0.007% of those stopped, have been convicted of an offense.

The government refuses to release the data it has on those stopped and interrogated between 2000 and 2009, including on their real or perceived religion. Although a 2014 report by Cambridge University determined that 88 percent of those stopped were Muslim…………………………………………

People targeted by U.K. authorities using “national security” and “terrorism” legislation, such as Schedule 7, include those associated with the Kurdish, Tamil, Palestinian, Basque and Somali movements for self-determination, those who simply happen to hail from these ethnic communities (regardless of whether they have engaged in political activism), critics of the U.S.-led “War on Terror,” and more broadly, critics of the foreign policy of Western governments.

There has also been a steady increase in the use of “terror” powers to target journalists in the U.K., with Craig Murray as the latest example.  https://scheerpost.com/2023/11/08/detained-under-uk-terrorism-law-whistleblower-says-police-questioned-his-support-for-assange/

November 10, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment

UK poised to brand dissent as ‘extremism’ – Guardian

Rt.com 5 Nov 23

Anyone who “undermines” the country’s institutions or values could be targeted under controversial proposed regulations

The UK is considering adopting a new definition of “extremism” that includes anyone who “undermines” British institutions or values, The Guardian reported on Saturday, citing internal government documents.

“Extremism is the promotion or advancement of any ideology which aims to overturn or undermine the UK’s system of parliamentary democracy, its institutions and values,” reads the new definition, reportedly drafted as part of a national counterextremism plan announced by cabinet minister Michael Gove’s Department for Leveling Up, Housing and Communities earlier this year. 

The source documents, marked “official – sensitive,” trumpet its potential to “frame a new, unified response to extremism.” The lack of public debate or consultation regarding the new definition has worried activists, who fear it will effectively criminalize dissent.

Index on Censorship editor Martin Bright called the move “an unwarranted attack on freedom of expression [that] would potentially criminalize every student radical and revolutionary dissident.” 

Even government officials are reportedly concerned the new definition constitutes “a crackdown on freedom of speech.” One unnamed Whitehall official told The Guardian, “The definition is too broad and will capture legitimate organizations and individuals.”

Amnesty International UK racial justice director Ilyas Nagdee pointed out that a similar definition was already in use under the government’s counterterrorism project Prevent, where it was already hampering attempts to organize.

Prevent, which defines extremism as the “active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs,” has been criticized as both Islamophobic and soft on Islamic extremism………………………………………………………..

As thousands of Britons took to the streets last month to demand Israel halt its bombardment of Gaza, Home Secretary Suella Braverman denounced the pro-Palestinian demonstrations as “hate marches,” demanding police officers re-examine whether waving Palestinian flags or chanting slogans could constitute hate crimes. On Friday, two women were charged under the Terrorism Act 2000 for carrying signs depicting paragliders like those used by Hamas to enter Israel.  https://www.rt.com/news/586636-uk-redefines-extremism-dissent-protest/ #Israel #Palestine

November 6, 2023 Posted by Christina Macpherson | civil liberties, UK | Leave a comment