31.03.2004

Galloway police apology

George Galloway has received an apology for his detention by special branch officers at Heathrow Airport on Friday March 12

Comrade Galloway, who is now officially designated as a Respect MP, was on his way to Belfast to speak at an anti-war rally when he was detained under the terms of the Terrorism Act 2000 and questioned about where he was going and what he would be saying at the meeting. He refused to answer questions about the context of his speech, which he said was no concern of the officers.

He has now been given a fulsome apology for the inappropriate detention and questioning by the head of the special branch (ports) section, superintendent Phillip King. Pointing out the wide nature of the powers given to his officers, he goes on: “On this occasion, whilst the officer may have been personally interested in the content of your proposed lecture, this was not an area in which the special branch would have an interest. Whilst the officer may have been legally entitled to ask such questions of you, like yourself I am unhappy about the manner of its application. Whilst the examination was carried out in good faith, it was in my view not within the spirit of the act and clearly inappropriate ...”

George Galloway commented: “Obviously I am pleased at the swift and fulsome apology ... Having said that, the point remains that the draconian and catch-all nature of the act allows special branch officers virtually unlimited powers of questioning and detention. As the superintendent admits in his letter, the act’s powers are ‘very wide, even when there is no reasonable suspicion on the part of the officers’. This incident certainly proves it.”