I was waiting to see where this story went, and to hear first-hand from the two people arrested and detained in British prison for daring to want to interview Tommy Robinson, before coming to a conclusion. In essence two people were stopped, arrested and detained in U.K. prison for having incorrect thoughts as defined by the British government.

The story was such an Orwellian outline; my initial skepticism told me there had to be more to these second and third-hand accounts. Alas, unfortunately the facts are as disturbing as initially outlined.

Austrian political activist Martin Sellner belongs to a group called Génération Identitaire, a national political group who advocate for national identity. Mr. Sellner’s girlfriend is an American author and ‘YouTuber’ named Brittany Pettibone. They were stopped from entering England by British authorities because they were going to interview a British nationalist called Tommy Robinson.

Being stopped from being allowed to interview Tommy Robinson, a person who has not committed any crime and is in all other aspects a free citizen, is bad enough; however, what is exponentially worse is that U.K. authorities forcibly separated Mr. Sellner and Ms. Pettibone and imprisoned them – while admitting their incarceration was entirely because they were going to speak to someone.

Think about that.

Martin & I were denied entry to the U.K. & held in a detention facility because 1.) I intended to interview “far right leader”, Tommy Robinson. 2.) Because Martin intended to give a speech at Speaker’s Corner which they alleged would “incite tensions between local communities”. This is political discrimination, plain and simple. @Martin_Sellner and I will release a detailed video statement as soon as possible. Thank you so much to everyone who helped bring attention to this issue. It’s an absolute disgrace for the U.K. We cannot allow such a precedent to be set in the U.K. or any Western country for that matter. Lastly, to the U.K. Border Force, I’ll be meeting with “far right leader”, Tommy Robinson, for an interview in Vienna this evening. While you can ban political dissidents from entering/speaking in your country, you can NEVER ban our ideas. (Ms. Brittany Pettibone via Twitter)

BREAKING: @BrittPettibone & @Martin_Sellner have arrived safe in Vienna after being detained for 3 days in a UK detention centre. Full interview to follow on https://t.co/n58aV1eLyNpic.twitter.com/nTYXmtbfjU — Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) March 11, 2018