Army veteran was arrested for sharing tweet from Laurence Fox!

 

Darren Brady from Aldershot

Army veteran, Darren Brady (51), from Aldershot, was arrested by police officers from Hampshire Constabulary, because he shared a tweet from the actor Laurence Fox on social media. He was told by the police that this had caused anxiety to a member of the public who had complained. The offending tweet showed a swastika made out of a number of Pride flags. The actor, Laurence Fox, of the right-wing Reclaim Party, who posted the original tweet, was not arrested in connection with this incident.

It's believed that Brady had been visited previously by the police who had offered him the option of an £80 Chinese-style, re-education course on diversity, equality, and social inclusion. Brady's arrest, of was criticized by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire.

Section 127 of the Communications Act 2003, makes it an offence to send a message that is "grossly offensive, or of an indecent, obscene, or menacing character, over a public electronic communications network."

Unlike the U.S., Britain doesn't have a Constitution or First Amendment that protects the right to free speech, religion, press and assembly. However, article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, which became law in the UK in October 2000, does say that, "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and the right to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers."

But UK law says that this right to freedom of expression is not absolute and may be "subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society.'

Some critics believe that the government's Online Safety Bill, which is supposed to make the internet a safer place, will undermine freedom of expression because it requires the censorship of protected speech and the requirement to remove content deemed 'harmful'.