Man arrested on suspicion of terrorism after taking a selfie

Metro .co.uk reports...

Some people would argue that taking a selfie should be punished with imprisonment.

And that’s what almost happened to one tourist, who was arrested on suspicion of terrorism 

offences as he took a selfie video in Brighton.

Kuwaiti tourist Nasser Al-Ansari, 38, was filming a video of himself outside Brighton’s Churchill 

shopping centre on his mobile phone when he was arrested.

He had been recording a Snapchat message in Arabic, in which he paid his condolences to 

the victims of a bomb blast in Kuwait last week – which claimed the lives of 27 people.

Mr Al-Ansari was then taken to a car park by police officers, and held on suspicion of terrorism 

offences for three hours.

‘They took my phone and then detained me for about three hours. They took me by car to a car 

park’, he explained.

‘They said, “You are under arrest under article 41 of the Terrorism Act; anything you say can 

and will be used against you”.

‘I said “I am 100 percent co-operative. I will go wherever you wish, I just want to go home”.’

But while Mr Al-Ansari was released after three hours, his phone has been kept by police for 

further examination.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Betts from Brighton and Hove CID 

confirmed that Mr Al-Ansari was released after ‘an assessment was made and there was no 

immediate threat’.

‘However, it was not possible at the time to examine his mobile, so an investigation continues 

in order to establish if it contains any evidence of a criminal offence’, DCI Betts said.

‘This will be completed as soon as possible and the phone will be returned to him if there is no 

reason to retain it further’.