‘The Crown' Actor Summoned For Police Interview After Pro-Palestine Protest
Writing on Instagram, Abdalla said 'the right to protest is under attack' in the UK following the summons, which relates to a Palestinian Solidarity Campaign rally that also led to ex-Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn being questioned under caution for breaching the rally's conditions.
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Abdalla has been a leading voice from the cultural world supporting Palestinians and the need for a ceasefire in Gaza. He said he was summoned by the Metropolitan Police several days ago alongside the likes of Stephen Kapos, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, and both have been asked to attend a 'formal interview.' The Metropolitan Police told the BBC that eight people had been 'invited to be interviewed under caution at a police station' as part of an 'ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions on Saturday 18 January.'
Protest laws in the UK have been significantly tightened in recent years. When Corbyn and his former Labour Chancellor John McDonnell were interviewed about the rally several weeks back, the BBC reported that the conditions of the rally were that it would remain in the Central London area of Whitehall and not move on, yet the police said a large group made its way from Whitehall to Trafalgar Square.
'While there is an alarming rise in attempts to censor voices that stand up for Palestine, even as it faces open calls for ethnic cleansing, it will not work,' wrote Abdalla on Instagram. 'The stakes are too high.'
Abdalla flagged Sunday's Oscar night victory for Palestinian-Israeli West Bank doc No Other Land as proof that censorship 'will not work.' He was also one of the big name signatories on the open letter sent to the BBC calling for the reinstatement of the Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone doc, which has been taken off iPlayer after it emerged that one of its narrators is the son of a Hamas minister.
Abdalla, who has been nominated for two SAG Awards, is best known for playing Fayed, the son of Mohamed Al-Fayed, in seven episodes of The Crown. Other credits include The Day of the Jackal, The Kite Runner and United 93.
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