Latest news with #interrogation
SBS Australia
6 days ago
- Politics
- SBS Australia
Would you give up your privacy to travel to the US? This Australian writer was forced to
Earlier this year, Australian writer Alistair Kitchen made international headlines after he was detained for 12 hours at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and denied entry to the United States. His phone was confiscated, raided and not returned until he arrived back in Australia. Kitchen says his treatment inside the customs and border protection interrogation room at LAX was worse than that of a criminal. "In the United States, the Americans talk proudly about their constitution. Those constitutional laws do not apply to people who are yet to cross the passport processing line," he tells SBS News. In February, the 33-year-old Melbourne-based writer had embarked on a trip to the US to visit friends in New York. Alistair Kitchen has travelled to the US multiple times and even lived there for six years while studying at Columbia University. Credit: Supplied But while waiting in the customs queue during his brief layover at LAX, Kitchen heard his name called over the loudspeaker. He alleges a border agent quickly explained why he had been pulled out of line, saying: "'Look, we both know why you are here.'" "'It's because of what you wrote online about the protests at Columbia University,'" he says he was told. For the next 12 hours, Kitchen says he was detained and interrogated twice about his views on the conflict in the Middle East. This allegedly included questions about his opinions on Israel and Hamas, whether he supports a one or two-state solution and whether he has any Jewish friends. "I'm laughing because just three days ago I was the celebrant at a Jewish wedding," he says. In a statement to the ABC following the incident, the US homeland security department denied that Kitchen was arrested on the basis of his political views, although it did not deny he was questioned about them. Alistair Kitchen said he documented the 2024 pro-Palestinian campus protests at Columbia University. Kitchen alleges he scrubbed these photographs from his phone before embarking for the US. Credit: Alistair Kitchen Kitchen was also instructed to hand over his phone and passcode to the authorities. Later, he says he was asked to use his phone's Face ID feature to unlock a hidden folder in his photo album. After some resistance, he eventually complied. I sat there with this Department of Homeland Security agent who scrolled through my nudes in front of me and then disappeared into the secondary room to scroll even further through the contents of my phone. "It was the most traumatic thing I've experienced," Kitchen says. 'A US visa is a privilege, not a right' Last month, the US announced expanded visa screening and vetting processes that will now consider some applicants' "online presence". The directive applies to all F, M and J non-immigrant visa categories, which will impact Australians seeking to study or participate in an exchange program in the US. It also instructs applicants to adjust the privacy settings on all their social media profiles to public. As the US state department maintains, "a US visa is a privilege, not a right". But according to Daniel Angus, the director of Queensland University of Technology's Digital Media Research Centre, it's not clear what kinds of digital activity will be scrutinised. Online likes, comments, posts and follower activity may be considered. "Social media, in its broadest terms, is used by people for a variety of reasons. When people use these services, they may be pseudonymous for very good reasons," Angus says. "It's often viewed through a lens and particularly by some politicians as 'anonymity is bad' … but they tend to overlook the ways in which anonymity is used very productively and is a form of safety for many." According to the US state department, 41 per cent of F-1 international student visa applications were rejected last year, marking a 10-year high for rejections. According to the US International Trade Administration, the number of Australians travelling to the US in June fell by 10 per cent, compared to 2024. Source: PA / Yui Mok Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at The Australian National University, believes heightened digital surveillance in immigration is part of a global trend. "Generally, countries have increasingly adopted tougher policies and approaches to border controls … ever since the 9/11 [September 11] terrorist attacks on the US in 2001," he says. In 2012, British holidaymaker Leigh Van Bryan was denied entry to the US after he tweeted via X — formerly known as Twitter — that he was going to "destroy America". In another post, he wrote he was going to dig up Marilyn Monroe, which Van Bryan later claimed was a reference to the television show Family Guy. More recently, a 21-year-old Norwegian traveller claimed he was denied entry to the US because immigration agents found an unflattering meme of US vice president JD Vance on his phone. In a post on X, the US Customs and Border Protection agency denied that claim, saying the traveller's deportation was due to "his admitted drug use". Although US visa applicants have been asked to disclose their social media handles to the state department since 2019, Rothwell says travellers' privacy is increasingly being encroached upon. "What is extraordinary here is that we're hearing increasingly US border officials are asking for passwords and are actually seeking to gain access to the actual phone," he says. If you do not immediately cooperate, that will very much throw into doubt your ability to cross the border and enter into the US. If you do cooperate, you're then forgoing your privacy. What does this mean for Australians? Ahead of his most recent trip to the US, Kitchen took extra precautions. "I had plenty of concern about going through immigration in the US because I'd heard stories already about travellers getting held up," he says. "I went through and deleted tweets about Donald Trump, for example, Instagram posts, and some of my text message apps like Signal. I had chosen not to go with a burner phone … out of fear that would cause even more scrutiny." The official reason Kitchen was deported was due to a failure to acknowledge a history of drug use on his Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) — which customs officers claim to have found evidence of on his device. Kitchen has admitted to using drugs in the past, but says he remains unsure of what evidence was found on his phone. For some Australians, including Angus, this news has impacted the way they engage online. "I know many academics who have been travelling to the States, myself included, we've perhaps self-censored a bit around the things we say … possibly all of us are reconsidering how much of ourselves we continue to put out online," he says. For others, like Rothwell, the increasing surveillance has not been a deterrent to online participation, but may be to travel. Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at The Australian National University, believes social media can be used to determine whether travellers meet the country's "character test" before entering the US. Credit: Australian National University Working in international law, Rothwell regularly comments on global news events and conflicts, including the war in Gaza, and has since stopped accepting speaking opportunities in the US. "I'm a paid academic at an Australian institution. I receive government funding to do my work … so I'm not going to be silenced as a result of these issues, he says. But with tighter digital surveillance now a part of visa screenings, some Australians may find themselves, like Kitchen, forced to hand over their devices and access codes if they want to enter the US. When asked whether he hopes to return one day, Kitchen says: "I love the country. I have a whole community of people there, and I'm desperately sad that I'm now likely banned from seeing them again. "But every day, journalists, protesters, activists do make it inside the country … [so] this is not to say you'll never get in."
Russia Today
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
Journalism a ‘crime' in UK – RT reporter after detention
The head of RT's Lebanon bureau, Steve Sweeney, has said British counterterrorism officers who briefly detained him at a London airport wanted to know if he had links with Russian officials and if he still loved his home country, the UK. RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan revealed in a Telegram post on Wednesday that Sweeney had been apprehended on arrival at Heathrow Airport and interrogated at length about his work for the Russian broadcaster. The British journalist, who has since returned to Lebanon, appeared live on RT on Thursday, saying that as soon as he got off the plane he was met by 'two plain-clothed police officers,' who took him away for questioning. The officers told Sweeney that he was not under suspicion or arrest, but 'merely detained,' which still allowed them to seize his phones, laptop, and other devices, he recalled. During the questioning, which lasted 'about four hours,' the officers were 'particularly focusing on Russia and my reporting for RT. They asked me whether I have links to Russian officials, which is a fairly... a broad description,' Sweeney said. 'Then they switch focus… to Lebanon. They were very interested in the nature of my relationship with Hezbollah, for example,' the journalist stated. The officers also asked 'about my feelings towards my own country, whether I love my country, whether I feel uncomfortable in my country. Why do I come back to my country if I do not like it?' he recalled. According to Sweeney, he flew to the UK to 'spend a week with family and friends, take my daughter to a concert, [and] see my mother.' The journalist said that following his detention, he could 'no longer feel safe in my own country.' As a result of the 'dystopian' policies pursued by the government of Keir Starmer, he has become 'a dissident living in exile,' simply because he was doing his job, he added. 'The political climate is not just the same in Britain – this is Europe-wide. You know, journalism is not a crime, but in those countries, journalism is a crime,' Sweeney stressed.
Russia Today
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Russia Today
RT journalist interrogated by UK police
The head of RT's Lebanon office, Steve Sweeney, has been detained and interrogated by the British police over his work for the Russian state-funded broadcaster, its editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan has reported. In a post on her Telegram channel on Wednesday, she said the British journalist had been apprehended on arrival in his home country. According to Simonyan, the UK authorities told Sweeney they 'suspected him of terrorist activities [and] took away all his phones [and] laptop and interrogated at length regarding his work for RT.' 'They asked [the journalist] whether RT management forces him to say what he doesn't want to say [and] whether instructions are being handed down to him,' RT's editor-in-chief detailed. Simonyan also stated that police officers had asked Sweeney whether he has links to the Lebanese Hezbollah Shiite militant group. She said that after the questioning was finished, British officials let the journalist go, noting that 'Steve… plans to continue working for RT.' Sweeney is a seasoned war-correspondent, who has covered hostilities in Iraq among other conflicts. Back in February, the Austrian authorities similarly detained independent British journalist Richard Medhurst, known for his pro-Palestinian stance. The apprehension came months after a run-in with the UK police. Austrian officials told the reporter that he was suspected of 'disseminating propaganda [and] encouraging terrorism,' according to Medhurst's own account of the events. He claimed that the Austrian police might have acted at the behest of their British colleagues. Last October, the UK police raided the London home of an associate editor of the pro-Palestinian Electronic Intifada website, Asa Winstanley, over 'possible offenses' related to his social media posts. Following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, the UK, the EU and several other Western nations banned RT and prohibited social media platforms from distributing its content, citing the need to combat 'misinformation.' Moscow has argued such actions demonstrate a lack of commitment to free speech and reflect a willingness to suppress narratives that challenge Western viewpoints.
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
Israeli military court extends al-Lahham's detention until Tuesday
The Israeli military court at Ofer has extended the detention of Palestinian journalist and Al Mayadeen's bureau chief in the occupied Palestinian territories, Nasser al-Lahham, until next Tuesday for 'continued interrogation,' according to a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS). Earlier today, the head of the PPS, Abdullah al-Zaghari, told Al Mayadeen that al-Lahham underwent an interrogation session yesterday at the Moskobiya detention center. He affirmed that the occupation is attempting to level baseless accusations against al-Lahham, adding that the defense team intends to file an appeal if the detention is further extended. On Thursday, he confirmed that al-Lahham was being subjected to interrogation proceedings before the Israeli military court at Ofer prison, following his arrest from his residence in Beit Lahm several days ago. At the time, al-Zaghari stated that al-Lahham appeared in court, amid indications that the Israeli authorities plan to extend his detention under the pretext of 'continuing the investigation.' He added that several legal outcomes remain under consideration: al-Lahham may be released, his detention may be further extended pending investigation, or he could be placed under administrative detention. Administrative detention permits "Israel" to hold Palestinians without formal charges for up to six months at a time, with the option for indefinite renewals. This practice enables military prosecutors to withhold evidence from suspects while arguing that the individual poses a significant threat despite insufficient evidence for an indictment. Israeli authorities have significantly escalated their use of administrative detention against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. This increase in arbitrary detentions, along with extended emergency measures that enable inhumane treatment of Palestinians, has been accompanied by a lack of investigation into incidents of torture and deaths in Israeli detention recently. Released detainees, human rights lawyers, and video evidence have provided accounts of the severe torture and mistreatment prisoners have endured, including violent beatings, sexual abuse, forced humiliation, and cruel treatment such as being forced to kneel during inmate counts or sing Israeli songs. Administrative detention is one of the key tools through which "Israel" has enforced its system of apartheid against Palestinians. Testimonies and video evidence also point to numerous incidents of torture and other ill-treatment by Israeli forces, including severe beatings and deliberate humiliation of Palestinians who are detained in dire conditions. The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club have reported on Sunday that at least 193 journalists have been arrested or detained by Israeli forces since the beginning of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Among them, 50 journalists remain imprisoned, including al-Lahham. The two organizations warned of a dangerous escalation in the targeting of media professionals, stressing that "Israel's" actions constitute a systematic campaign to silence the press and obstruct coverage of its crimes in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. In a similar context, the spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stephane Dujarric, called on Friday for clarity surrounding the arrest of al-Lahham, emphasizing the necessity of allowing journalists to operate freely, without fear of imprisonment or any form of intimidation. His remarks came during a press conference in response to Al Mayadeen's inquiry about whether UN Secretary-General António Guterres has been urging the release of detained media personnel, including al-Lahham. Dujarric expressed serious concern regarding the situation of journalists in occupied Palestine, stating: 'Not only is there a shortage of journalists in Gaza, but there has also been harassment against journalists in both Gaza and the West Bank throughout the conflict in general.' Al Mayadeen had previously submitted an official letter to the UN spokesperson on the day of al-Lahham's arrest, urging the United Nations to take a clear position on the arbitrary and unjustified detention. No formal response was received. During the most recent press briefing on July 7, Al Mayadeen reiterated its demand for a concrete stance, especially in light of the ongoing targeting of Palestinian media professionals. Al Mayadeen labeled al-Lahham's detention as part of a wider campaign of repression carried out by Israeli authorities against Palestinian journalists. "We are not surprised by the occupation's sadistic practices," Al Mayadeen said, "nor by its persistent hostility toward journalism, journalists, and the right to report the truth." This is not the first time al-Lahham has been targeted by Israeli forces. In late October 2023, Israeli forces raided al-Lahham's home, assaulting his wife and children, conducting an intrusive search, and detaining his two sons, Basil and Basel. Read more: Al Mayadeen holds Beirut, Tehran rallies in support of Nasser Lahham
Al Mayadeen
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Mayadeen
'Israel' extends detention of Al Mayadeen bureau chief until Sunday
The Israeli military court at Ofer has extended the detention of Palestinian journalist Nasser Al-Lahham until next Sunday to allow for "continued interrogation," according to a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS). Earlier today, the head of the PPS, Abdullah al-Zaghari, confirmed that Nasser al-Lahham, Al Mayadeen's bureau chief in the occupied Palestinian territories, was being subjected to interrogation proceedings before the Israeli military court at Ofer prison, following his arrest from his residence in Beit Lahm several days ago. Speaking to Al Mayadeen, al-Zaghari stated that al-Lahham appeared in court earlier in the day, amid indications that the Israeli authorities plan to extend his detention under the pretext of 'continuing the investigation.' He added that several legal outcomes remain under consideration: al-Lahham may be released, his detention may be further extended pending investigation, or he could be placed under administrative detention. Administrative detention permits "Israel" to hold Palestinians without formal charges for up to six months at a time, with the option for indefinite renewals. This practice enables military prosecutors to withhold evidence from suspects while arguing that the individual poses a significant threat despite insufficient evidence for an indictment. Israeli authorities have significantly escalated their use of administrative detention against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. This increase in arbitrary detentions, along with extended emergency measures that enable inhumane treatment of Palestinians, has been accompanied by a lack of investigation into incidents of torture and deaths in Israeli detention recently. Released detainees, human rights lawyers, and video evidence have provided accounts of the severe torture and mistreatment prisoners have endured, including violent beatings, sexual abuse, forced humiliation, and cruel treatment such as being forced to kneel during inmate counts or sing Israeli songs. Administrative detention is one of the key tools through which "Israel" has enforced its system of apartheid against Palestinians. Testimonies and video evidence also point to numerous incidents of torture and other ill-treatment by Israeli forces including severe beatings and deliberate humiliation of Palestinians who are detained in dire conditions. The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, along with the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS), confirmed on Tuesday that the Israeli occupation authorities have transferred Al Mayadeen's bureau chief in Palestine, Nasser al-Lahham, from the Maskoubiyeh interrogation center to Ofer Prison. Member of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Omar Nazzal, said the Israeli interrogation of al-Lahham was focused on his work with Al Mayadeen TV. The occupation forces detained al-Lahham at dawn from his home in Beit Lahm, amid an intensified campaign by "Israel" targeting journalists at an unprecedented scale since the start of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the Commission and the PPS stated. According to the statement, the number of journalists who have been arrested or detained since the beginning of the genocide has reached 193. Of those, 50 journalists remain in detention, including Al Mayadeen's al-Lahham. The Commission and the PPS noted that the majority of detained journalists are facing charges related to so-called 'incitement' through social media platforms and news outlets, while others are held under administrative detention based on alleged 'secret files'. The Israeli occupation also categorizes journalists in Gaza as so-called "unlawful combatants". Al Mayadeen Media Network issued a strong-worded statement on Monday denouncing the violent detention of its bureau chief in occupied Palestine. The network said the arrest was carried out with "brutality and repression," demanding al-Lahham's immediate release. Al Mayadeen labeled al-Lahham's detention as part of a wider campaign of repression carried out by Israeli authorities against Palestinian journalists. "We are not surprised by the occupation's sadistic practices," Al Mayadeen said, "nor by its persistent hostility toward journalism, journalists, and the right to report the truth." Al Mayadeen's statement asserted that al-Lahham is one of the most renowned names in Palestinian media, with more than 30 years of experience in journalism. His arrest drew immediate condemnation from across the Arab world, with media figures, press freedom advocates, and political movements expressing solidarity. "For us, Nasser is more than a bureau chief. He is a leading voice in Palestinian journalism, a symbol of purposeful reporting, and a steadfast defender of his people's rights," Al Mayadeen's statement asserted. In late October 2023, Israeli forces raided al-Lahham's home, assaulting his wife and children, conducting an intrusive search, and detaining his two sons, Basil and Basel. Read more: Al Mayadeen holds Beirut, Tehran rallies in support of Nasser Lahham
