**George Galloway Accuses Police of Using Stop at Gatwick Airport as Pretext for Fishing Expedition**
Former MP George Galloway has accused police of stopping him at Gatwick Airport as a pretext to search his phone and laptop. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Mr. Galloway claimed the investigators asked only generic questions, which he believes were an excuse to seize and analyse the couple’s electronic devices.
“This was no interview. None of the questions was specific in any way. No specific question at all was asked of me beyond generic musings that I now believe were merely a pretext for the seizing of our devices to go on a fishing expedition,” he said.
Mr. Galloway added, “I fully expected to be asked about something I’d done, I was not. I expected to be asked about something I’d said, I was not. Something I’d written, I was not. No specific question at all was asked of me beyond generic musings that I now believe were merely a pretext for the seizing of our devices to go on a fishing expedition.”
He went on to say that Britain is falling into a vortex where freedom of speech and freedom of expression are increasingly under threat. “I’ve never been more angry,” he told journalists.
The couple claim the stop breached their human rights and are threatening legal action against various agencies involved.
Ms. Pertiwi, who was with Mr. Galloway, said she had not slept or eaten since the ordeal, which she described as being “thrown into a black hole.” She recounted that police asked her about a Palestinian flag design painted on her index fingernail.
At the press conference in Belfast, solicitor Kevin Winters described the interrogation as frightening. He said the Galloways were questioned by armed police officers on topics ranging from the sublime to the outright ridiculous, including questions about China, Gaza, and Russia.
“On any analysis of such questioning, there was nothing put to them which could be remotely described as evidence of hostile activity. We can state with confidence that none of the questions posed had anything to do with terrorism,” Mr. Winters said.
He criticised the draconian law that was used to stop the Galloways, under which staying silent can be held against a suspect. “The stop was a contrived, politically motivated investigation undertaken with the aim of humiliating, undermining, and ultimately embarrassing Mr. and Mrs. Galloway,” he told journalists.
Mr. Winters claimed there was no lawful basis to stop the couple and called the stop “a barely concealed ruse to get their phones and their IT equipment.”
He added, “Today we are issuing pre-action protocol correspondence against the relevant agencies engaged in the operation which was overseen by Counter Terrorism Policing South East. It remains unclear who exactly was ultimately responsible for overall decision-making but that will emerge shortly in the course of this legal action.”
It was reported that one interviewer claimed to have connections to the security service. Mr. Winters said the legal team is considering applying to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal to find out if MI5 or MI6 were involved.
“Detaining George Galloway in a bid to try and silence him because of robustly expressed political views which are in many ways uncomfortable to those in authority will simply fail. If nothing else, it’ll only serve to redouble his efforts,” Mr. Winters said. “He fully expects that those who planned Saturday’s actions will rue the day that they did so.”
The Metropolitan Police confirmed the incident but did not name the couple. They said: “We can confirm that on Saturday, September 27, counter-terrorism officers at Gatwick Airport stopped a man in his 70s and a woman in her 40s under Schedule 3 of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019. Neither of them were arrested and they were allowed on their way.”
https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/george-galloway-claims-airport-stop-was-fishing-expedition-by-police-1812685.html
