Ian Hislop slams ‘mind-boggling’ arrest of pensioner for holding up Private Eye cover at pro-Palestine protest
Ian Hislop, the editor of the magazine, said that the arrest of a 67 -year -old man in a Palestinian protest for a Palestinian protest was “unimaginable”.
Retired Jon Farley, a former chief teacher in a primary school, was arrested for a silent protest on Saturday after the police accused him of supporting the Palestinian action, a banned organization.
The government voted at the beginning of this month to identify a terrorist organization protest after allegedly spraying red paint on the British fighter plane in Norton. The Prime Minister gave the Palestinian action the same legal status as ISIS, al -Qaeda and far -right clothing national action.
The special eye cover held by Mr. Farley included: “Palestinian action was explained. Unacceptable Palestinian Action: Paint on military planes.
At the bottom of Mr. Farley’s poster, the words “Special Eye, 1653 No” were written.
Western Yorkshire police arrested the pension in accordance with the 12th episode of the 2000 Law of Terrorism. He had never been detained before.
“[Police officers] He took me, caught me and took me to the side and sat on the sidewalk, ”he said 67 -year -old Guardian.
“I think they said something about the poster. And I said: ‘This is a special look. I can show you.
A protester then told the police that the latest pressure of the private eye was on sale in a nearby newspaper dealers.
Mr. Farley arrested six hours to question by the Anti -Terrorist Police. He was allowed to leave under bail conditions he avoided participating in the “Palestinian Action” rallies. Mr. Farley said he never attended a Palestinian action rally and that it would be illegal to hold such a meeting.
He pointed out that 32 Palestinians were shot on the day of his arrest.
He described the incident as a evidence of the entire intimidation atmosphere ”and added that the police believe that they are“ forms the law ”.
Mr. Hislop, who defended the front cover, said that this was a “example of freedom of expression”.
When asked about the arrest of Mr. Farley, he said, ım I thought you were dealing with minds. So, ridiculous. Frankly, he couldn’t believe it, and the response in the office immediately said: ‘Jokes have been punishment for a long time.’ ‘
Mr Hislop describes the cover as a very smooth and funny capsulation about what is acceptable and unacceptable, and this is a joke – so, a very black joke – but about the hypocrisy of the government approach of all kinds of action in Gaza.
“So it is not difficult to understand. Critical, but clearly a joke. It seems absolutely extraordinary that someone can be arrested for holding him.”
