On Saturday morning at around 11 am, U.S. human rights lawyer, professor and journalist Daniel Kovalik was detained by three counter-terror police officers at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport under paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, which allows border police to detain and question people they believe to be involved in “hostile state activity.”

Kovalik — who was visiting England for a wedding — was detained for approximately two and a half hours and interrogated extensively on his political views about Israel’s genocide in Palestine, Lebanese resistance organisation Hezbollah and on the war against Iran.

.

Kovalik’s phone and laptop were seized along with his DNA, fingerprints, photos from multiple angles and copies of his bank and credit cards.

After officers rifled through his luggage, they questioned Kovalik on the book he was carrying — a gift from a student by Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, Palestine’s Children: Returning to Haifa & Other Stories — before he was released and free to continue on his journey.

Despite informing officers that he is a practising lawyer and that his phone and laptop contain documents protected by legal professional privilege — including attorney-client privilege — Kovalik objected to their seizure, which a supervising police sergeant confirmed to Kovalik that he had properly raised privilege objections. Regardless of his objections, his electronic devices were retained “with intention to copy,” raising serious questions about the protection of legally privileged material, client confidentiality and compliance with the safeguards governing legal privilege under Schedule 3 and its accompanying Code of Practice.

Another notable case of a legal professional persecuted by the British state is that of British solicitor Fahad Ansari who was detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 in August 2025 following a family trip in Ireland. During Ansari’s detention, his work phone — containing legally privileged client material — was seized, copied and retained. Ansari subsequently brought judicial review proceedings against the British Home Secretary and Chief Constable of North West Police, arguing that his stop, seizure of phone and handling of legally privileged material was unlawful.

London has long targeted pro-Palestine journalists, activists, academics, doctors, musicians, former MPs — George Galloway and his wife Gayatri — and more recently moved onto lawyers, forcing some into exile — including Galloway and journalist Steve Sweeney — while persecuting those at home with years-long and expensive court-cases which are often, eventually dropped, making the legal process itself the punishment. This was seen years earlier during the British state’s persecution of WikiLeaks founder, journalist and publisher, Julian Assange, where a common refrain amongst activists and journalists covering the case was that “the process is the punishment.”

In the last month alone, the British Home Office has outright banned journalists and commentators from entry, including Jeremy Loffredo — who was previously detained by Israel while reporting in occupied Palestine — Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur, with claims their “presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good.”

Meanwhile, thousands of British citizens who have taken part in “the crime of all crimes” of genocide by serving in the Israeli army following October 7 have returned to Britain with open arms, despite the Genocide Convention requiring states to prevent and punish genocide and prosecute individuals responsible for genocide or complicity in genocide.

But this would include the British government itself.

As we expect further persecution of those vocally opposed to genocide, it is worth stating for those seeking to visit Britain and/or for those travelling in and out of the United Kingdom, that it might be worth considering leaving electronic devices one would prefer not to part with, at home, considering the primary purpose of these relentless attacks against those speaking out against genocide — aside from to intimidation and disruption — is intelligence gathering.

Finally, as is typical when these state attacks occur against those opposed to genocide in Palestine, the British mainstream media remains ever mute, ignoring these detainments and arrests entirely. However, netizens — on the increasingly restricted social media websites — continue to share their outrage on what is another dark chapter of British history:

[…]

Via https://www.globalresearch.ca/britain-detains-human-rights-lawyer-daniel-kovalik/5931955