Prominent anti-genocide activist Majid Freeman arrested by Leicester police as part of ongoing witch-hunt

London - Majid Freeman, a prominent anti-genocide activist, has been arrested by Leicestershire police for raising awareness of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza. 

A study by The Lancet this week estimates that the number of Palestinians killed could be as high as 186,000. Moreover, there is mounting evidence of Israeli soldiers confirming that troops routinely shoot children and civilians as they pleased, set homes ablaze, and left corpses on the streets, all with their commanders’ permission, In view of these atrocities and war crimes, the Palestinian right to resist genocide, enshrined in international law, is beyond question.  

Although Freeman’s arrest is part of the general policy of repression of Palestinian solidarity in Britain, it is also the latest episode of the local establishment specifically targeting him for his community activism.  
Freeman’s viral video of Jon Ashworth, a senior ally of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, proved instrumental to Ashworth losing his seat in Leicester South in the recent General Election. 

In 2022, Freeman highlighted police failings when RSS-Hindutva groups insisted on paramilitary-style marching through Muslim majority areas while chanting provocative slogans. Despite video footage shown on Sky News of Freeman protecting an innocent Hindu man from being attacked, who said Freeman ‘saved his life’, Leicester police prosecuted him under section 4 of the Public Order Act 1986. Freeman was convicted of the offence last month.  

CAGE Director Muhammad Rabbani said: 

“The first few days of a Starmer-led government has seen the arrest of an anti genocide activist in Leicester, the arrests of 7 students protesting Israeli genocide at the SOAS encampment, and continuing silence in the wake of increasing Israeli slaughter of Palestinians with the full political and military support of Britain. Despite the change of party, it’s business as usual.

Like Julian Assange, the only crime Majid Freeman is guilty of is exposing Western complicity in genocide. The establishment’s Al Capone tactics of intimidation will not work. The people will continue to stand with the Palestinian resistance against Western-sponsored Israeli genocide.”

Photo by Dovydas Žilinskas on Unsplash