British Labour Party leader George Galloway and his wife Gayatri have been stopped by police at London's Gatwick airport after a visit to Russia, the Herald reports, citing law enforcement and its own sources.
„Officers from the Metropolitan Police's counter-terrorism command stopped the 71-year-old former MP on Saturday as he was returning to the UK. According to the Herald, Galloway and his wife arrived at Gatwick on a flight from Abu Dhabi, where they had originally flown in from Moscow, the publication said.
According to a police statement quoted by the Herald, the couple were subject to a provision of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act, which allows law enforcement agencies to stop, question, search and detain a person to determine whether they are involved in “enemy activity“.
“They were not arrested and were allowed to continue on their way,“ the police statement quoted by the newspaper noted.
The party confirmed the incident and reacted negatively to the police actions. “Our party condemns the attempt to intimidate those who seek friendly, not hostile, relations with the rest of the world. "Our leader George Galloway and deputy leader Gayatri Galloway were released without charge... We were denied legal aid and the case was brought to intimidate political opponents of the movement towards war with Russia and China," the party said in a statement on social media.