The claim:
On February 5th, 2021, posts on social media were claiming a man in England has been arrested for free speech when he compared the country’s response to COVID-19 to the mid-twentieth century holocaust which resulted in the death of upwards of 11 million Jews and others persecuted by Adolph Hilter and Nazi Germany. That man is Piers Corbyn, 73, the older brother of U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn was accused of passing around flyers.
Is it fake news?
According to the Jewish Chronicle of London, Piers Corbyn and another man were arrested in conjunction with “suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance”. Below is a snippet from that report.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed officers had arrested a 73-year-old man in Southwark yesterday on suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance.
Another man, 37, was arrested the same day in Bow on suspicion of a public order offence, but the force did not confirm either men’s identities.
“Both men were taken to a south London police station. They have since been bailed to return on a date in early March,” a spokesperson said.
Verdict: 100% Exactly News
Corbyn was indeed arrested but not charged by police but claims the flyers and messages were not anti-Semitic. His wife is Jewish, he claimed, referring to her as a “Jewess” which set off a whole new wave of claims of anti-Semitism against him.
“I’ve worked with Jewish leading world scientists over the last 30 years,” he said. “I’ve also employed Jewish people in my business Weather Action, one of whom was a superb worker.”
