# UK secrecy laws

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "UK secrecy laws," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/uk-secrecy-laws/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*John Kiriakou's view that Britain is even harsher on whistleblowers and dissent than the United States, using the Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act to stop people at airports and threaten arrest merely for supporting Palestinian rights.*

- **Cited statutes:** Official Secrets Act; Terrorism Act
- **Per Kiriakou:** Harsher than U.S. Espionage Act

**UK secrecy laws** are, in [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s view, even tougher on whistleblowers and dissent than their American equivalents. Britain's Official Secrets Act and Terrorism Act, he says, mean that merely saying you *"support Palestinian human rights"* can bring prosecution, or being stopped at an airport and told that while not under arrest, you are *"also not free to go."*[1][2] He cites three friends, one a former British ambassador, stopped and threatened under those acts, calling the regime *"draconian"*, at least in the U.S., he says, the [Espionage Act](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-torture-program-whistleblowing) gives *"a fighting chance."*[3] He pairs Britain's treatment of pro-Palestinian speech, connected to the [BDS movement](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bds-movement), with a Florida law making similar social-media posts illegal, under which Miami police visited a woman over a Facebook post.[4][5]

In separate interviews, Kiriakou has criticized the UK's Official Secrets Act specifically for squelching free speech and freedom of the press, arguing it makes just about anybody vulnerable to prosecution over something they say that is deemed sensitive, even without a security clearance.[6] He has said the UK situation is worse than the American one because British law imposes real criminal penalties on journalists even for expressing an opinion at odds with the government's position, not merely for revealing classified information.[7]

## See also

- [BDS movement](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/bds-movement)
- [CIA Torture Program Whistleblowing](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/cia-torture-program-whistleblowing)

## Sources

1. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Exposes Torture, Assassinations, and the Epstein Files (2026-03-01), at 18:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cHt3dZqn6c&t=1130s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-the-inquiry-torture-assassinations-epstein/
2. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Exposes Torture, Assassinations, and the Epstein Files (2026-03-01), at 19:23. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cHt3dZqn6c&t=1163s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-the-inquiry-torture-assassinations-epstein/
3. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Exposes Torture, Assassinations, and the Epstein Files (2026-03-01), at 19:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cHt3dZqn6c&t=1194s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-the-inquiry-torture-assassinations-epstein/
4. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Exposes Torture, Assassinations, and the Epstein Files (2026-03-01), at 20:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cHt3dZqn6c&t=1225s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-the-inquiry-torture-assassinations-epstein/
5. CIA Whistleblower John Kiriakou Exposes Torture, Assassinations, and the Epstein Files (2026-03-01), at 20:57. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cHt3dZqn6c&t=1257s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-03-01-the-inquiry-torture-assassinations-epstein/
6. Ex-CIA Spy on Torture, Trump & How Australia's Intelligence Ran (2025-04-11), at 08:50. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQNedgdX0oM&t=530s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-04-11-the-clear-signal/
7. Does the CIA Control American Presidents and Media? (2026-01-01), at 04:46. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0dum00g0fs&t=286s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-01-01-fair-observer/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/uk-secrecy-laws/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt