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Hasan Piker detained at the border and questioned for hours over politics (www.usermag.co)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/world@quokk.au
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Hasan Piker, the biggest progressive political streamer in America, was detained by Customs and Border Protection for hours of questioning upon returning to the U.S. from a trip to France this weekend. Piker posted about the incident on X and later talked about it on stream.

He was detained in Chiago and questioned for two hours about protected journalistic activities like who he’s interviewed and his political beliefs. He was asked whether or not he’d interviewed Hamas, Houthis, or Hezbollah members. He was questioned about his opinions on Trump and Israel and asked about his history of bans on Twitch. His phone and laptop were not confiscated.

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[–] 37 points 1 year ago (6 children)

The questioning (though harmless) is often a stepping stone to more drastic measures. In the place where I live (not the US), my local religious police does questioning to make sure that activists are not posting their status online. This sort of measure helps them evade accountability and keeps the general public in ignorance.

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  • [–] 57 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    The questioning (though harmless)

    There's nothing "harmless" about kidnapping people and coercing them into an interrogation.

    This sort of measure helps them evade accountability and keeps the general public in ignorance.

    Yep, that's some of the harm.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    That is true. Interrogations do harm communities to a larger extent than I initially thought. I recall how my neighborhood had to stop everything (such as art, videos, embroidery, food) just so they could avoid police kidnappings. We had three post-doctoral candidates in our district arrested for insulting the sultan (and his religion) and although they were smart enough to hire defense counsel, their lawyers told us that their clients are "jailed without trial".

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago*

    This is what happens when you gut education, the "regular people" observing this no longer have the historical context of what this shit actually means in the scheme of things during an ongoing fascist takeover. "What's wrong with them just asking questions to make sure he's not a terrorist?"

    So they let it happen, and in many cases, even cheer it on.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    In the place where I live (not the US), my local religious police does questioning to make sure that activists are not posting their status online.

    Careful. Depending on which not-the-US country you're in, this could be flagged as anti-semitism.

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