Please note that updated versions of this page will be kept at https://jeremydaw.github.io/streisand-effect/asa-winstanley.html

Asa Winstanley

What happened is best described in his own words.

The events were also described here.

Asa was awakened at 5:40 am by a police raid, said to be "on account of [his] social media posts", in connection with possible offences under sections 1 and 2 of the Terrorism Act (2006).

Asa has just published another article about it, here

Why the raid was scheduled for 5:40am was not apparent. Nor was why, to find material he has posted on the internet, looking on the internet isn't the way to go.

In any event, I encourage you to look at his writings that are so disliked by the authorities: his substack, Palestine is Still the Issue, and the Electronic Intifada give you plenty.

According to the World Socialist Web Site

Winstanley is associate editor at The Electronic Intifada, and has also written for Declassified UK, Middle East Monitor, Middle East Eye, The National, and Jacobin, and is the author of Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn.

One must of course ask: does any of his writing amount to "encouragement of terrorism"? Probably. Does that bother me? Not a bit. Why? Because of the ludicrously broad definition of terrorism under the Terrorism Acts - under which I myself am a "terrorist" (on account of my service with the school cadets at my secondary school nearly 60 years ago). A future article will elaborate on this.

Of course, if anyone comes across anything he has written which offends against the Terrorism Acts and is actually objectionable, do let me know. For example, had he supported cutting off water and power from Gaza. (For this example of conduct offending against the Terrorism Acts I am indebted to Sir Keir Starmer.)

An internet search reveals that this event was hardly covered by the mainstream media, the one exception I found being the National (Scotland). So here are my reading recommendations from among sources that did cover it. (In some cases the articles on the web seem to be pay-walled but by subscribing I got them sent by email).