Cash reward offered for Tony Blair's arrest
United Kingdom citizens could claim a cash reward by attempting to peacefully arrest former prime minister Tony Blair for crimes of aggression.
Newspaper columnist and author George Monbiot has launched a website offering guidelines for people seeking to undertake a citizen's arrest of Blair, as well as accepting donations to reward those who try.
"At this stage the arrests will be largely symbolic, though they are likely to have great political resonance," Monbiot wrote in his column in The Guardian newspaper on Monday.
The site, which raised ?9,182 ($16,551) by today, said anyone who made an attempt that was carried in the mainstream media would be entitled to a quarter of the money raised at the time they applied for the reward.
It also offered guidelines for making the symbolic arrest, including to "calmly approach Blair and in a gentle fashion to lay a hand on his shoulder or elbow, in such a way that he cannot have any cause to complain of being hurt or trapped by you."
Would-be arresters were requested to then say, "Mr. Blair, this is a citizen's arrest for a crime against peace, namely your decision to launch an unprovoked war against Iraq.
"I am inviting you to accompany me to a police station to answer the charge.”
It also offered tips on cooperating with the police and preparing for interviews afterward.
However, Monbiot - who previously tried to arrest former US under-secretary of state John Bolton during a British literary festival - also noted in the column that "you cannot yet be prosecuted for mass *murder commissioned overseas."
Newspaper columnist and author George Monbiot has launched a website offering guidelines for people seeking to undertake a citizen's arrest of Blair, as well as accepting donations to reward those who try.
"At this stage the arrests will be largely symbolic, though they are likely to have great political resonance," Monbiot wrote in his column in The Guardian newspaper on Monday.
The site, which raised ?9,182 ($16,551) by today, said anyone who made an attempt that was carried in the mainstream media would be entitled to a quarter of the money raised at the time they applied for the reward.
It also offered guidelines for making the symbolic arrest, including to "calmly approach Blair and in a gentle fashion to lay a hand on his shoulder or elbow, in such a way that he cannot have any cause to complain of being hurt or trapped by you."
Would-be arresters were requested to then say, "Mr. Blair, this is a citizen's arrest for a crime against peace, namely your decision to launch an unprovoked war against Iraq.
"I am inviting you to accompany me to a police station to answer the charge.”
It also offered tips on cooperating with the police and preparing for interviews afterward.
However, Monbiot - who previously tried to arrest former US under-secretary of state John Bolton during a British literary festival - also noted in the column that "you cannot yet be prosecuted for mass *murder commissioned overseas."
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