On 11th November this year, officers belonging to the Essex police landed at the residence of UK-based, award-winning journalist Allison Pearson.
They told her that she was being investigated for ‘incitement to racial hatred’ over a social media post uploaded in 2023. The complaint was supposedly made by a member of the public, who was not directly or indirectly referenced in the post.
The Essex Police assessed the complaint twice and decided to initiate a probe under Section 17 of the Public Order Act, 1986. Such investigation pertains to materials that ‘intend to cause racial hatred.’
🗞️ Telegraph View: 'The hounding of Telegraph journalist @AllisonPearson
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) November 16, 2024
has put freedom of speech in Britain under intense scrutiny'
Continue reading ⬇️https://t.co/oisr0zSb7T pic.twitter.com/M1M4UbfOym
By Friday (15th November), it came to light that the Essex Police had formed a ‘gold group’ (usually set up to investigate crimes like terror attacks) to investigate the case of Allison Pearson.
According to a report by The Guardian, the ‘social media post’ at the heart of the controversy is a tweet (archived) posted on 16th November 2023.
In the said tweet, the journalist had lambasted the Metropolitan police in London for posing with ‘Jew haters’.
She had tweeted, “How dare they. @metpoliceuk Invited to pose for a photo with lovely peaceful British Friends of Israel on Saturday police refused. Look at this lot smiling with the Jew haters.“
Allison Pearson inadvertently assumed that the said picture was from a pro-Palestinian rally in London.
In reality, it was a political event by overseas Pakistanis and supporters of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) held in August 2023. On realising her mistake, Pearson deleted her tweet.
Instead of policing the streets, the cops at Essex are now ‘policing’ the tweets of the award-winning journalist for ‘incitement to racial hatred.’
The story so far.
— Allison Pearson (@AllisonPearson) November 16, 2024
1. I am not a racist.
2. I didn’t post a racist tweet.
3. My tweet did not incite violence against any protected characteristic.
4. My fairly innocuous tweet was deleted a year ago.
5. Senior lawyers say my tweet does “not come near the threshold for criminal…
Despite attempts at bullying by the new Labour Party regime in the UK, Allison Pearson had been steadfast in her resolve.
She has received support from the likes of ex-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk.
“I am not a racist. I didn’t post a racist tweet. My tweet did not incite violence against any protected characteristic. My fairly innocuous tweet was deleted a year ago. Senior lawyers say my tweet does “not come near the threshold for criminal prosecution,” Pearson said in a tweet on Saturday (16th November).
In the meantime, the Essex police resorted to intimidating her employer, The Telegraph. The cops have reported the newspaper to the UK’s largest regulator Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), alleging false reporting.
