After UK Police Raid, Journalist Asa Winstanley Focused On Stopping 'Digital Strip-Search' Of His Devices
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London-based journalist Asa Winstanley says when British counter-terrorism police raided his home on October 17 they asked which electronic devices were personal and which were used for journalism.
“I was very reluctant to do that because it seemed to me that by doing that I would almost set myself up,” Winstanley added during a Space hosted by Sulaiman Ahmed. “It’s a way of stopping me from doing my journalism, if they were going to take those devices away.”
But if Winstanley did not identify the devices that he used for journalism, the implicit threat was that they would “basically ransack the whole house.” The police “would take all devices in the whole house.” He did not want that to happen.
Police permitted him to call a lawyer. Winstanley chose to “cooperate in a limited extent,” however, when they asked for passwords, he refused to provide them.
“It’s a very, very strange situation. I wasn’t arrested. I wasn’t charged with anything, and yet because of the unjust laws of the British state—these so-called anti-terror laws—they’re so broad. They can just seize your devices like this,” Winstanley declared.