UK Police Arrest Journalist for Inciting Racial Hatred Amid Anti-Zionist Movement Launch

A London‑based journalist working for Iran’s state‑funded Press TV was arrested by UK police on Sunday while travelling to the launch event of the Anti-Zionist Movement (AZM) in Birmingham, a new group advocating against “Jewish supremacy" and supporting Palestinian resistance. West Midlands Police said 35‑year-old Latifa Abouchakra was arrested on suspicion of “inciting racial hatred". She was stopped while travelling in a car in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham at around 2.30pm and remains in custody. “A woman, aged 35, was held in the Kings Heath area of Birmingham at around 2.30pm. Officers were acting on information that she was due to attend a launch event for the ‘Anti-Zionist Movement’," the statement said. The police added that Abouchakra was wanted by the Metropolitan Police on suspicion of a Public Order Act offence, connected to speeches and social media posts made in London and Birmingham between May and October last year. Press TV called the arrest as linked to her participation in the Anti-Zionist Movement, whose social media posts declared it “unapologetically pro-Armed Resistance." Abouchakra, a regular contributor to Press TV’s coverage of Middle East affairs, first drew attention for praising the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas. In a widely shared video from that day, she called the assault as: “Nothing will ever be able to take back this moment, this moment of triumph, this moment of resistance, this moment of surprise, this moment of humiliation on behalf of the Zionist entity." The Hamas attack killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and saw around 250 taken hostage, triggering the war in Gaza. Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 70,373 people, according to the territory’s health ministry, figures considered reliable by the United Nations. (With inputs from agencies)