Judgment Approved by the court for handing down.
[2025] EWHC 1170 (Admin)
AC-2024-LON-001310
HUSAIN v SRA
41.
The Tribunal found Mr Husain to be “ardent and passionate in his beliefs” and
knowledgeable about the history of the region. He had a hitherto unblemished record.
However, as in Zaman Ali, the critical issue was the meaning of the words, not the
subjective intention with which they were used. The Tribunal set out some examples of
tweets by Mr Husain where he had expressed his view “bluntly and robustly yet
without recourse to offensive language”. However, there were also examples where he
had crossed the line from blunt commentary to “[t]weets which could be viewed as
objectively antisemitic, albeit in some cases written in a way to obscure the true
meaning which lay beneath, and others where offensive language was used, some with
crude sexual references”. The Tribunal placed no weight on the contention Mr Husain’s
mental health played a part in his tweets. There was no evidence on which it could do
so as the report of Dr Zaman had been admitted for the sole purpose of deciding upon
reasonable adjustments and mitigation: [27.37].
42.
The Tribunal then set out its own analysis of Mr Husain’s tweets, explaining which it
had found individually to be antisemitic and why, by reference to the various
definitions it had cited:
(a)
On 2 October 2020, Mr Husain tweeted: “How terrible 1300 Zionist criminals
coming to steal the land of Palestine and turn the Palestinians into refugees by
those East Europeans who kicked the Palestinians out of their homes and took up
residence in them. PALESTINES, ETHNIC CLEANSING, that continues to this
day. SHAME”. The Tribunal considered that this was an example of: “Denying
the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the
existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour) AND Drawing comparisons of
contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
(b)
On 3 May 2021, Mr Husain tweeted: “No Muslim should buy The Times, it is a
bigoted pager with numerous Zionists working for it like David Aaronovich,
Daniel Finkelstein etc. Earlier Cage was awarded damages against this Zionist
mouthpiece”. The Tribunal saw this an example of: “Making mendacious,
dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the
power of Jews as a collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth
about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy,
government or other societal institutions. Accusing Jewish citizens of being more
loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests
of their own nations.”
(c)
On 10 May 2021, Mr Husain tweeted: “1. A problem created by Britain - u don’t
want Eastern Europeans here but exported a murderous bunch of Eastern
European Zionists to Palestine and armed them. Yes u don’t want peace & not in
ur blood Nick and Dominic. That is why u been arming Israel since 1968 2. Most
Jews did not leave Palestine, they remained in Roman times & are there today
Palestinians who converted to Islam. The Europeans have always believed in a
mono- culture that is why E.Europeans Zionist believe in ethnic cleansing
Palestinians and stealing their lands and homes”. The Tribunal saw this as an
example of “A trope that Jews do not originate from Israel but instead from
Eastern Europe. Reference to Ashkenazi Jews from central and Eastern Europe is
also an attempt to delegitimise the existence of the state of Israel by asserting that