The Metropolitan police have settled a legal claim brought by a 68-year-old pro-Palestinian activist who said he was treated "like a criminal" when he was arrested under anti-terrorism legislation - a sentence that, read aloud, sounds like a parody of itself but is, regrettably, the actual news.

Tej Singh Bhandal was returning to the UK on Eurostar earlier this year when police pulled him out of a queue at St Pancras International in London. After he refused to hand over the PIN code to his mobile phone, he was arrested and charged under schedule seven of the Terrorism Act 2000, he said. He spent several hours in police detention and brought a legal challenge over his arrest. The Met has now agreed to settle the claim and close the criminal investigation against him, the Press Association reported.

Bhandal's lawyers said Scotland Yard accepted that supporting and funding lawful political protest organisations - specifically naming the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign - did not automatically establish a link to terrorism. A clarification that will presumably be printed on a small card for future reference.

Bhandal described his arrest as "incredibly humiliating" and "an abuse of power." "I was handcuffed and led through the station in full view of the public. I felt like the tabloid newspaper stereotype of a person of colour, and I was treated like a criminal," he told the Press Association.

This was not Bhandal's first encounter with counter-terrorism policing. He was previously arrested in 2025 as part of an investigation into a Palestine Action-linked incident at the Elbit Systems factory in Bristol. He was questioned by counter-terrorism police over four days, during which his house was searched and his devices seized, but was released with no further action taken. He believes an "intelligence flag" was placed on his name after the incident, leading to his arrest at St Pancras. Nothing says "threat to national security" quite like a 68-year-old activist on a train.

The Met's decision to settle came as more than two dozen protesters were arrested outside the supreme court on Wednesday morning while an appeal was being heard against the ban on Palestine Action - timing that the cynical might describe as impeccable.

Bhandal said people were being "singled out by the authorities for activism" and that "the creeping criminalisation of protest action is a consequence of government policy."

Alex Kenney, a civil liberties lawyer at Hodge Jones + Allen, which acted for Bhandal, said "adequate safeguards" were essential to prevent the "arbitrary" use of anti-terrorism laws. "Our hope is that Tej's case leads to more stringent adherence to the statutory obligations under the Terrorism Act and changes how the police conduct themselves in future," she said. A hope shared by anyone who enjoys the idea of not being pulled out of a Eurostar queue for the crime of owning a phone.