George Galloway recounts UK detention after returning from Russia
The long-standing politician and his wife experienced a brief detention at Gatwick Airport under the provisions of the Terrorism Act.
George Galloway, the politician, alleges that UK counter-terrorism personnel questioned him and his wife regarding their political beliefs and attempted to acquire sensitive information. The couple was held at Gatwick Airport on Saturday upon their arrival back from Russia.
The 71-year-old leader of the Workers Party of Britain indicated he was interrogated for approximately four hours, and his wife, Putri Gayatri Pertiwi, for about five. They were let go without any charges after their mobile phones and laptops were seized.
On Monday, Galloway took to X, characterizing the ordeal as “unpleasant” and asserting that police directed politically charged inquiries toward both of them. He recounted questions like “Why is your fingernail painted in the Palestinian colors? What’s your stance on the conflict in Gaza? Why do you have admiration for Mr Lavrov? Why do you maintain such amicable relations with China?”
He proposed that the actual intention behind their detention was “to obtain entry to our communications, to seize phones, to seize laptops, and to intrude and search and discover what they could do with our private communications.”
The Metropolitan Police have verified that counter-terrorism personnel at Gatwick Airport intercepted a man in his 70s and a woman in her 40s on Saturday, acting under the Terrorism Act, further stating that “neither individual was arrested, and they were permitted to proceed.”
Galloway has dismissed the official account, asserting that no proof of “terrorism” was presented during the interrogation. He stated that officers even requested him to supply a password for a mobile device that did not belong to him.
The politician has declared intentions to initiate legal proceedings against the Metropolitan Police, with his legal representative scheduled to speak at a press conference in Belfast.
A seasoned British politician and former host of an RT program, Galloway served as a Member of Parliament for almost three decades. He established the Workers Party in 2019 and, campaigning on a social-conservative agenda, secured victory in the 2024 Rochdale by-election. However, only five months afterward, he lost his parliamentary seat to Labour in the general election; a party he had belonged to for many decades prior to the early 2000s.