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Private Eye jokes now ‘criminal’ as the magazine hits back at dumbass cops

Over the weekend, a pensioner was arrested in Leeds for holding a placard displaying a joke from Private Eye about Palestine Action. Jon Farley was detained by police at a silent protest for holding the following image:

As Farley was handcuffed he explained to officers that the joke was from Private Eye magazine, and offered to show them a copy that was in his backpack. However, Farley was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The act makes support for a proscribed organisation, in this instance, Palestine Action, illegal.

Private Eye

Farley said:

I thought, this is all a bit surreal. I clearly wasn’t any kind of physical threat. There was no need for them to act in the way they did.

He was released six hours later after questioning. But, his bail conditions state that he is not to attend any Palestine Action rallies. As the Guardian reported, Farley had never done such a thing in any case, and it would be illegal irrespective of his bail conditions.

Farley said:

I was just very shocked at first and then relieved, but now I’m thinking, hang on a minute, what happened here?

What really concerns me is the whole atmosphere of intimidation.

And, the officers who arrested Farley were apparently confused as to the application of the law. Farley recounted that:

I found out later somebody said to one of the police: ‘You know you can buy Private Eye in the newsagent just next to the van you’re putting him in, are you going to arrest Ian Hislop?’

So they’re coming out with all this guff about: ‘If it’s in print, it’s fine. But if you carry it on the demo [it’s illegal].’ That sounds to me like the police making up the law.

For his part, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop said of Farley’s arrest:

I did think it was mind-boggling. I mean, ludicrous.

Hislop also jokingly bemoaned that officers didn’t seem to know what Private Eye was:

That’s really depressing, isn’t it? That’s probably the most appalling thing.

Future impact

On social media, Private Eye’s social media account said:

Writer Marc Jones called the arrest “dystopian”:

Another social media user said:

Stand up for Gaza

West Yorkshire Police said:

We are sorry that the man involved is unhappy with the circumstances of this arrest. As this is a new proscribed organisation, West Yorkshire police is considering any individual or organisational learning from this incident.

Unfortunately, while police work out how to apply the law it would appear that citizens are at risk from a draconian and farcical law.

Farley, however, remains unbowed. He told the Socialist Worker:

We’ve got to stand up. We’ve got to stand up for Gaza. We can’t let them stop us speaking out.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maryam Jameela

This post was originally published on Canary.