A justice campaigner claims he was unlawfully arrested by police at the airport as part of a “bullying campaign” sparked by his advocacy for those accused and convicted of serious crimes.

Eron Hill was returning to Bermuda from a Thanksgiving trip to New Jersey on November 27 when plainclothes officers approached him at customs and handcuffed him in what he described as “quite dramatic fashion”.

Mr Hill runs the Bermuda Equal Justice Initiative, which aims to “free the innocent, prevent wrongful convictions and assist in reforming the justice system so it’s fair, compassionate and equitable for all”.

He said he was told he was being arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to a legal case he was working on and taken to Hamilton Police Station, where he was held for 72 hours before being released on police bail.

While in custody, a property where he had been staying was searched and documents relating to that case were seized.

“This is very much like a bullying campaign,” alleged the 28-year-old paralegal.

“They seized my laptop and the phones I had on me. I was just putting my passport to the customs officer. They said, ‘you are under arrest’.”

Mr Hill said his immediate response was to tell the officers the arrest was a “farce” and quote to them a line of poetry, famously spoken by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr: “Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again.”

The phrase, written by American poet William Cullen Bryant, is one Mr Hill uses on social media when publicising the BEJI’s work.

He said officers told him a post on the initiative’s Instagram page about two police officers was the reason for his arrest.

“That’s all that got put to me during the interview,” he said. He added that the accusation against him was “nonsense”.

“I suspect they just wanted me to slow down,” he said. “The post was made, I think, in October.

“To be arrested in the last week of November begs the question: why now?”

He also questioned why the Bermuda Police Service did not simply ask him to attend the police station voluntarily for an interview and claimed they were abusing their powers of arrest.

Mr Hill said he and others were behind the equal justice campaign, although he declined to say who else was involved. He noted that while in custody a post about his arrest was put on the Instagram page.

He said the way he was treated only strengthened his resolve to continue fighting for justice for others, including two convicted murderers seeking to appeal their convictions and others accused of serious crimes.

After his release, Mr Hill was instructed to report twice weekly to Hamilton Police Station but that bail condition was later removed at his lawyer Bruce Swan’s request.

He has since travelled to Britain and met Richard Thomas, KC, to instruct the barrister about pursuing a civil case against the police.

“I’m suing for unlawful arrest,” he said. He added that letters-before-action had been sent to the police asking for CCTV footage from the cell and officers’ bodycam footage.

He will answer police bail on February 13.

Antoine Daniels, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said: “The BPS do not discuss matters pertaining to any potential ongoing criminal investigations.”