Detention of Yemeni activist puts end to any doubt that UK is abusing its terrorism powers, says Cori Crider of Reprieve

A leading UK human rights charity has claimed there is a campaign of intimidation of human rights workers going on at UK borders after the Terrorism Act was used to detain a Yemeni activist at Gatwick.

Baraa Shiban, a respected human rights activist who works in Yemen as a project co-ordinator for the London-based legal charity Reprieve and was travelling to London to speak at an event, said he was held for an hour on Monday night and questioned about his work and political views.

He was detained under schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act, the same legislation used last month at Heathrow to detain David Miranda, the partner of Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who has written about mass internet surveillance by the US National Security Agency and Britain's GCHQ.

Shiban is a member of Yemen's National Dialogue – the body tasked with mapping out the country's democratic future

He visited the UK without incident earlier this summer and testified in May to a US congressional hearing on the impact of the covert drone programme in Yemen.

Shiban said he was questioned at Gatwick about his views on human rights abuses in Yemen, and when he said he did not think his views were relevant to security, was threatened with detention for the full nine hours the law allows.

Cori Crider of Reprieve said: "This is part of a worsening campaign of intimidation of human rights workers going on at the UK border – especially if they're critical of the so-called war on terror. If there were any doubt the UK was abusing its counter-terrorism powers to silence critics, this ends it."

Reprieve has been working to support the relatives of civilian victims of drone strikes who are seeking legal redress and recently found evidence which, it said, showed the UK supports the US operations through the provision of communications infrastructure and intelligence.

Shiban said he was told by a border agent at Gatwick: "Your organisation has obviously been causing a lot of problems to your country. The relations between your government and the UK are vital for us."

He said he was also asked why he was working for a human rights group, and was told: "What if your organisation did something bad to your government, and you are here because of the bad things your organisation has done to your government? I want to know, because the relations between Yemen and the UK are important. I want to know that your organisation is not disrupting that."

Shiban is due to speak in London on Wednesday at a seminar on Yemen organised by Chatham House, a foreign affairs thinktank. His speech will be on the topic of security, diplomacy and aid.

Shiban said: "I was stunned when the border agent said I was being held simply because I came from Yemen. It was even more shocking when he spent the entire time asking me about my human rights work and about Reprieve, the charity I work for.

"Is the UK the kind of place that human rights activists are fair game for detention, intimidation and interrogation?"

Without naming Shiban, Sussex police confirmed that a man was stopped and questioned at Gatwick airport on Monday evening under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

A spokesman said: "He was referred to Sussex police by Border Force officials. He spoke with officers for around half an hour and was then free to continue his journey. We are satisfied that our actions were legitimate, justified and proportionate and were carried out in accordance with the act."