Last Sunday, London Telegraph journalist Allison Pearson was questioned by British police in her own home for a post she made on her page on X ( ex Twitter) more than a year ago. The journalist notes that police are not telling her which post is the subject of the investigation, nor are they saying who her accuser is.
The Telegraph notes that on Tuesday evening, police in the county of Essex in southeast England said its officers had launched an investigation under Section 17 of the Public Order Act 1986 into material that allegedly “could or was intended to cause racial hatred.”
A police spokesman said: “We are investigating a message passed to us by another agency. The message relates to a social media post which has since been deleted. An investigation under Section 17 of the Public Order Act is currently underway.”
“Free speech in the UK is caught in the grip of Starmer’s police tyranny.Journalist Allison Pearson has been taken in for questioning in connection with a ‘non-criminal non-freedom incident’.The reason was her post from last year on the X network – but police did not even specify which one or why,” writes The Telegraph.
Allison Pearson, 64, said that two police officers showed up at her door on Remembrance Sunday and told her she was under investigation for a tweet she made in 2023. According to the journalist, two police officers knocked on her door at 9:40 a.m. on Remembrance Sunday to inform her that she was under investigation because of an X (ex- Twitter) post from a year ago and to invite her for voluntary questioning.
“I was charged with a hate incident unrelated to the crime. It was related to something I wrote on the X website a year ago.”
She came out to police officers in a bathrobe and was stunned. The police refused to give the award-winning writer details about which post on X, ex-Twitter, was the subject of the investigation and who had filed the complaint against her. The police made it clear that she should refer to her accuser as a “victim”.
I respect the police who do a very difficult job, but two cops showing up at my house on Sunday because of a tweet from a year ago – and not telling me what it said – undermines public trust.This is a free society, and law-abiding people should not be persecuted for “wrong thoughts.”
Police said the alleged offense is being treated as a criminal matter, not a hate incident, as Pearson said Sunday. Police issued a second statement on Wednesday, accusing the Telegraph newspaper of presenting “wholly inaccurate information ” as fact. The complaint was referred to Essex Police by another force. It is believed to have been dealt with twice by different officers before Essex decided to secure a voluntary interview with Pearson. A spokesman for Essex Police said: “As a police force, we investigate cases reported to us without fear or favor, regardless of who makes the report or who the incident concerns.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the British Reformists, said: “This is eminently Orwellian. I am absolutely appalled that Ellison and others like her have to live in fear for months without being able to find out what has been said against them. People must be very worried. We are in thoughtcrime territory where accusers are called ‘victims’.”
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice strongly condemn the politically motivated harassment, threats and arrests of journalists carried out by the administration of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The persecution of public figures performing their civic duty is not only a violation of numerous conventions and agreements, but can also be seen as an attack on basic democratic values.