Ian Hislop blasts 'mindboggling' terror arrest of man holding Private Eye cartoon

PRIVATE Eye's editor Ian Hislop has hit out after a man was arrested holding a cartoon it published mocking the ban on Palestine Action.

Jon Farley, 67, was arrested at a silent demonstration in Leeds on Saturday for holding a sign that made a joke about the proscription order, which appeared in the last issue of the fortnightly magazine.

The cartoon read: "Unacceptable Palestine Action: Spraying military planes with paint.

"Acceptable Palestine Action: Shooting Palestinians queuing for food."

(Image: @MadocCairns, via Twitter/X) He was arrested by West Yorkshire police under the Terrorism Act, and was released six hours later after being questioned by counter-terrorism police.

On Monday, police confirmed no further action would be taken against him and all bail conditions have been lifted.

Hislop, editor of Private Eye, said the cartoon was "quite blatantly an example of freedom of speech on the subject of a government policy".

Ian Hislop (Image: PA) He told the Guardian: “I did think it was mind-boggling. I mean, ludicrous. He obviously couldn’t believe it and the immediate response in the office was that someone said: ‘Well, the jokes have been criminal for ages.’”

Are Private Eye jokes now... criminal? PALESTINE Solidarity campaigner Jon Farley was arrested, bundled into a van and taken to the cells during a silent march in Leeds last weekend. What egregious act had prompted the police to act? He was, er, carrying a Private Eye joke piece… pic.twitter.com/GojyQdXF7M

— Private Eye Magazine (@PrivateEyeNews) July 23, 2025

He said the cartoon was “actually a very neat and funny little encapsulation about what is and isn’t acceptable, and it’s a joke about – I mean, it’s quite a black joke – but about the hypocrisies of government approach to any sort of action in Gaza.

“So it’s not difficult to understand. It’s critical, but it is quite clearly a joke. Seems to me absolutely extraordinary that someone could be arrested for holding it up," Hislop added.

A spokesperson for West Yorkshire police said: “We are sorry that the man involved is unhappy with the circumstances of this arrest. As this is a new proscribed organisation, West Yorkshire police is considering any individual or organisational learning from this incident.”