Scottish PEN is extremely alarmed by reports of recent events in Scotland. On 18 October, The National reported that the Scottish author, human rights campaigner and former diplomat Craig Murray had been detained by members of Police Scotland’s Border Policing Command unit under the UK’s draconian anti-terror laws.
Mr Murray had been apprehended two days earlier on his return from Reykjavik, where he had been attending a meeting of a campaign group calling for the release of the jailed journalist Julian Assange. Mr Murray had also attended a pro-Palestine protest while in Iceland.
The treatment of Mr Murray appears to follow a pattern of behaviour by the UK security forces, coming in the wake of the arrest of the foreign rights manager of French publishing house Éditions la Fabrique by UK counter-terrorism police earlier this year – an arrest over which PEN International expressed deep concern. Like Ernest Moret, Mr Murray had his computer and phone confiscated. Mr Murray was asked to provide the passwords for these devices, and told that not to comply would be a criminal offence.
Like Mr Moret, Mr Murray was interrogated about his political views and the people with whom he associated in his work, as well as his personal finances. As Mr Murray wrote in reaction to these events, it seems “[a] bit of a strange career change to become a terrorist at 65.”
Scottish PEN expresses grave reservations about this seeming attack on democratic rights, civil liberties and freedom of expression, which appears to have the intention of intimidating Mr Murray and anyone else who might object to the conduct of the UK Government into silence. It reaffirms its commitment ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.