Piers Corbyn arrested over leaflet comparing Covid vaccine to Auschwitz

The pamphlet credited the idea of the cartoon to Piers Corbyn 
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Piers Corbyn has been arrested by police investigating leaflets that likened coronavirus vaccine efforts to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.

This week the Standard revealed that the pamphlet had been hand-delivered to homes in several areas, including to Jewish families in Barnet, north London and to residents in Southwark, south London, over the weekend.  

It carried a cartoon of the extermination camp where at least 1.1 million people were murdered between 1940 and 1945.  

A sketch of the entrance to Auschwitz in which the gates’ infamous slogan “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free) was changed to “Vaccines are safe path to freedom”.

The pamphlet credits the idea of the cartoon to Piers Corbyn, 73, the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

On Thursday, the Metropolitan Police issued a statement saying a 73-year-old man was arrested in Southwark the previous day “on suspicion of malicious communications and public nuisance”.

The force confirmed that arrest was linked to a leaflet “containing material that appeared to compare the Covid-19 vaccination programme with the Holocaust”.

The deeply offensive leaflet was delivered to homes across London
handout

A 37-year-old man was also arrested in Bow, east London, on suspicion of a public order offence, Scotland Yard added.

Both men were taken to a south London police station. They have since been bailed to return on a date in early March.

Confirming his arrest, Mr Corbyn told the Standard that he was asked in a phone call to attend a police station and answer questions. He went voluntarily and was arrested while there.

He said that officers also searched his flat and examined other leaflets there but did not take any away.

“I was arrested and I gave a full rebuttal via my solicitor,” he said. “I have done nothing wrong.”

He said the questioning concerned whether or not his leaflets were of malicious intent, and not about whether the deliveries of them broke covid lockdown rules.

Mr Corbyn said a statement would be issued through his solicitor.

Describing the meeting, he said: “The police phoned me yesterday and asked if I would answer some questions. I agreed and while I was there they said ‘we ought to arrest you’ in case they wanted to look at my flat.  They did look into my flat.  They picked up a few leaflets and gave them back and said they were not relevant.”

Labour MP Neil Coyle, whose complaint to the police was revealed exclusively by the Standard this week, responded to the arrests, saying: “This is good news for those who want everybody to get vaccinations and be made safe as quickly as possible. 

“And it is good news for those who do not want vile Holocaust imagery shoved through our letterboxes by crackpots.”