Galloway warned of death threats

Media reports suggest alleged death threat was mailed to MP’s office.

By JERRY LEWIS
BRITISH MP George Galloway, heavily bruised, is shown after he was assaulted on a West London street on Friday (photo credit: TWITTER)
BRITISH MP George Galloway, heavily bruised, is shown after he was assaulted on a West London street on Friday
(photo credit: TWITTER)
LONDON – Scotland Yard said on Wednesday that controversial MP George Galloway has been sent a death threat, but mystery surrounds the motive though media outlets he has favored in the past suggested the threat was linked to his stance on Israel.
Galloway, who is the Respect Party leader and its only MP in the House of Commons last month attempted to declare his constituency in the northern English city of Bradford, an “Israel free zone.” An action that led to his subsequent interrogation by West Yorkshire Police.
Nothing further has been heard since about their inquiries.
Media reports said that the alleged death threat was mailed to the MP’s office in Westminster and that with the letter, police discovered an unknown powder substance accompanied by the threat that he “would die from a deadly virus.”
Selected media outlets, specifically The Guardian newspaper, the Iranian backed Press TV on which he used to have a regular program and Russia Today where he hosts a weekly show, all stated that according to “a source” the threatening missive was linked to his views on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Metropolitan police made clear they could not give any further details beyond the basic information that officers based in Westminster Palace had contacted their (the Metropolitan Police’s) counter-terrorism command on Monday “following the receipt of a letter intended for a member of the House of Commons.”
That letter, the statement concluded, was being treated as “malicious communications.”
It is understood the letter was postmarked Austria and was intercepted by post office staff who are permanently based in Parliament and who have been trained to deal with suspicious objects and packages.
A source said, “There was a package, everything is scanned and presumably they picked up something and opened the package.”
In fact any suspect packages are not opened, and instead specially trained police officers are immediately called in to investigate.
Galloway who has been prominent in the “say no” campaign on Scottish independence had evidently referred to the interception when addressing a rally in Glasgow on Tuesday evening, telling supporters that he was “going to face the bullet,” but he did not elaborate nor give any further details as to the possible perpetrators.
Police said late Wednesday that no arrests have been made and their inquiries are ongoing.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Galloway told other media outlets that they did not wish to comment on the reports. However, on Twitter he expressed his gratitude to the Parliamentary postal team.
“The workers in the Post room in Parliament were the ones endangered and I am grateful to them and to the met police,” he said.