Richard Medhurst

Richard Medhurst         (journalist, YouTuber)
Born	1992 Damascus, Syria
Nationality	British, Syrian
Interests	• Foreign Policy • Middle East • Politics • Julian Assange
British-Syrian journalist and commentator

Richard Thomas Medhurst (born 1992) is an independent journalist and commentator whose reporting focuses primarily on international relations, the Middle East and US politics, and is rooted in anti-imperialism. He is one of the few journalists to have covered the Julian Assange extradition case in London; he has done extensive coverage on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Iran nuclear deal and war on Syria. He is fluent in four languages: English, French, Arabic and German. He started his YouTube show in late 2019

Background

Resident in Vienna, Richard Medhurst was born in Damascus to a British father, and Syrian mother. His parents were Nobel Peace Prize winning UN peacekeepers.

Arrest

Craig Murray on the Medhurst arrest

On 15 August 2024, Richard Medhurst was arrested at London’s Heathrow Airport as he disembarked from his plane, under Section 12 of the 2000 Terrorism Act. He was accused of "expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a prescribed organisation." He was held for almost 24 hours, questioned, and had all his electronic devices and journalistic equipment confiscated.

Medhurst said on his X account::

“I believe I’m the first journalist to be arrested under this provision of the Terrorism Act.

"The police confiscated all my journalistic tools as evidence

• My phones
• A wired microphone
• A wireless microphone
• A pair of wireless headphones
• A faraday bag

"Clearly my 'crime' is journalism."

Julian Assange

Corbyn speaking to Assange supporters

Richard Medhurst has provided full coverage of Julian Assange’s extradition hearing at the Old Bailey and Royal Courts of Justice in London:

"I witnessed his show trial at the Old Bailey in London. The Australian journalist and WikiLeaks founder faces up to 175 years in jail for exposing US war crimes."

On 11 August 2021, Medhurst tweeted a video of MP and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice among Julian Assange supporters:

"I hope the court accepts the decision of the lower court. He should not be removed to the United States.

"My view is that he should be released.

"His health is clearly at risk while he's in Belmarsh. A worse risk if he's in a supermax prison in the United States.

"He's a man that has actually done the whole world a very good service as some of our newspapers recognise, like The Guardian in the earlier stages of this. So I say to the journalists that are here I have plenty of issues with the way the media report things in this country. I have good reason to have complaints about the way the media treated individuals in this country but I hold no bitterness.

"What I recognise is that journalism is a very dangerous and risky profession when done properly. I think of journalists in Mexico, in Colombia, in India. I think of journalists in many countries, in Egypt and many other places that have risked all to tell the truth about corruption, risked all to make sure the rest of the world knows the truth of what's been done in their name.

"Julian Assange to me walks in that great tradition of great, fearless journalists. We're here to support Julian Assange and demand his freedom. And we'll be here as many times as it takes to continue making that call.

"Thank you everyone today for standing up for the truth."

Awards

Medhurst has won the Serena Shim Award.

 

A Quote by Richard Medhurst

Page	Quote	Date	Source
Evacuation from Afghanistan	“There's so many people arguing about the withdrawal from Afghanistan blaming Trump, blaming Biden. 'Oh we should withdraw like this'. No no there's only one way to withdraw it's called get the f*** out of Afghanistan. Okay people in the west need to stop with this colonial mindset thinking they can just invade countries kill people stay there for 20 years and then act like they are the victims at Kabul Airport.”	27 August 2021	YouTube

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Police escalate the British state's war on independent journalism	blog post	17 October 2024	Jonathan Cook	"This isn't about terrorism, except by the British state. Even the name of the 'counter-terrorism' raid is performative: 'Operation Incessantness'. The message the state wants to send is that it will not rest till it has us all behind bars."
Document:Starmer’s purges of Labour have mutated into the arrest of Palestine supporters	blog post	30 August 2024	Jonathan Cook	Britain’s authoritarian new prime minister is expanding the scope of already draconian laws to redefine his critics as ‘supporters’ of terrorism. Starmer wants to be judge, jury and executioner. We must not let him get away with it.
Document:The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rights	Article	27 August 2024	Robert Stevens	Now, in a move that would have been agreed to by PM Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Labour has pioneered the use of an amendment to the Terrorism Act passed by the Tories to once again attempt to silence and criminalise a journalist and political activist. The same course is being pursued by governments throughout the world.
Document:UK police raid home, seize devices of EI’s Asa Winstanley	Article	17 October 2024	Ali Abunimah	"On 17 October 2024, British counterterrorism police raided the home and seized several electronic devices belonging to The Electronic Intifada’s associate editor Asa Winstanley. The letter handed to Winstanley by police refers to the raid on his home as being part of 'Operation Incessantness', perhaps indicative of a broad and ongoing crackdown against critics of Israel’s British-backed crimes."

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See also

• Medhurst on Substack