Abul Hussain
In September 2010, I highlighted the following comments on the Facebook page of Abul “Abz” Hussain, who was at that time a member of the National Council for George Galloway’s Respect party.
Quite rightly, a day after my blog post, Respect expelled Abul from their party. Their statement was published here.
Within a year, however, Abul was appointed as a Justice of the Peace, ie a magistrate. He still sits at Stratford magistrates’ court. He helps decide if people are guilty or innocent, and what sentences to pass.
I’d noticed he was a magistrate earlier this year when he was becoming vocal in his support for Lutfur Rahman on Twitter. His Twitter account contained a link to his private internet marketing business, a site on which he helped to promote himself by stating he was a JP.
The Judicial Office’s Code of Conduct for judges and magistrates is strict on avoiding conflicts of interests–commercial and political.
It is also strict on the use of Twitter and social media. It advises judges and magistrates to be extremely careful.
I questioned Abul about this in a Twitter exchange last month. He denied any wrongdoing but quickly removed from his business website any reference to his role as a JP.
I’d completely forgotten he was the same Abul Hussain kicked out of Respect for anti-Semitic remarks in 2010.
Andrew Gilligan remembered.
He ran this in yesterday’s Sunday Telegraph. I can only assume the Judicial Office was unaware of his past when they let him sit on judgement on others in 2011.
It would be astonishing if we were not asked to explain himself now.
Here’s the Sunday Telegraph story in full:
A man expelled from George Galloway’s Respect party for racism and anti-Semitism is serving as a magistrate in London’s most multiracial borough.
Abul “Abz” Hussain describes himself as a “follower of David Icke,” the conspiracy theorist who believes that the world is ruled by a race of giant lizards and that global leaders, including George W. Bush and the Queen, are the descendants of extraterrestrial reptiles.
On his Facebook page, Mr Hussain, a British Bangladeshi, condemns “ignorant” people who “want me to ‘integrate’ into a decadent [Western] lifestyle.”
As a sitting Justice of the Peace (JP) at Stratford magistrates’ court in Newham, east London, Mr Hussain is called upon to enforce British law, a key tenet of the society he appears to question. Sitting with two other magistrates, he passes verdicts and sentences in most criminal cases, with the power to impose up to six months’ imprisonment. More serious cases are also first heard by magistrates, who can grant or deny bail.
A resident of neighbouring Tower Hamlets, Mr Hussain is a strong supporter of Lutfur Rahman, the borough’s extremist-linked independent mayor, who was re-elected by a narrow margin in May.
During the campaign, Mr Hussain stated on Twitter that Tower Hamlets had been treated by the Labour Party as the “last outpost of the British Raj” and added: “I’m definitely not a racist but I’ll admit to voting on racial lines… this is a show of BD [Bangladeshi] strength to Labour HQ!
He claimed Bangladeshis were treated by Labour as “colonial subjects” and said the borough under the party was a “collection of bantustans”, artificial states created by the apartheid regime in South Africa to segregate black people. A recent entry on his Facebook page shows a man hitting a woman with a mallet.
As a member of the national council of George Galloway’s Respect Party, a council candidate and joint general secretary of the local party, Mr Hussain took a major role in Mr Rahman’s previous election campaign in 2010, organising canvassers and meetings for Mr Rahman, who was removed from Labour after The Sunday Telegraph exposed his links to an extremist Islamist group, the Islamic Forum of Europe.
Respect did not run a candidate of its own and supported Mr Rahman. Mr Hussain also appears to have been one of Mr Rahman’s nominators for the mayoralty.
However, Mr Hussain was expelled by Respect two weeks before polling day after posting in a Facebook exchange: “You know the world’s coming to an end when a Jew accuses you of being of his kind… I should have put u on that convoy to Gaza, could have traded the Jew with the Israelis to let the aid through.”
Despite Mr Hussain’s expulsion, he was appointed a magistrate in September 2011.
A spokesman for the Judicial Office confirmed that Mr Hussain was a serving JP and said: “Any allegations about a magistrate’s conduct would, in the first instance, be investigated by their local advisory committee. If they felt there was evidence of misconduct it would be referred to the Judicial Investigations and Conduct Office (JCIO).
“Should the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice then find that a magistrate has brought the judiciary into disrepute, a number of sanctions are available including removal from office.”
Mr Hussain did not respond when contacted.
He should feel at home with the likes of Galloway and Livingstone who are no slouches themselves when it comes to anti semitism. Miliband is in an increasingly difficult position with Livingstone on the NEC.
Not a difficult position at all. You assume, wrongly, that antisemitism is a vote loser for Labour.
Yes, I did. Was I wrong?
I do hate it when articles are left hanging……..
So, who, if anybody, is referring the behaviour of this Magistrate to the Judicial Investigations and Conduct Office (JCIO)?
Ted – Did you take screen dumps before he deleted the evidence of his having breached ‘The Judicial Office’s Code of Conduct’?
For those, like me, unfamiliar with this document here’s a link to the pdf file
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/JCO/Documents/Guidance/judicial_conduct_2013.pdf
I agree. Sentence pendant is so annoying but you can’t you that to cover up corruption.
Interestingly on The Judicial Appointments Commission website http://jac.judiciary.gov.uk/index.htm you can find the following statements
“The JAC makes significant efforts to ensure our processes are fair and all applicants receive equal treatment.
Under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the JAC has a statutory duty to:
* select candidates solely on merit
* select only people of good character
* have regard to the need to encourage diversity in the range of persons available for selection
In addition to our duty under the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the Equality Act 2010 applied a general duty to public authorities to:
* eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
* advance equality of opportunity between different groups
* foster good relations between different groups”
Source: http://jac.judiciary.gov.uk/about-jac/351.htm
The failure of the whole thing is in the requirements under the White Hating Act of 2010.
Happy Christmas to all
Ted seems determine to give everyone a bonus helping of worrying Tower Hamlets events.
CC.
Tweeting is getting interesting. Not sure if this will work but here goes
There is always more than meets the eye. He is much more racist than we got to see on his Facebook exchanges with his mates.
I am amazed that such individuals think that it’s okay to use racist language because they are supposedly having a private conversation with their mates. Well, this should teach him a lesson after being outed like this in a national newspaper and on a popular blog.
If someone like that is a magistrate then he judiciary is already in disrepute. I’m appalled.
What should be explored is how he got to be a magistrate in the first place. As in other walks of public life the tendency of recent years has been to insist on whatever ” looking like the constituency it represents”.
The theory behind this is that given a level playing field every aspect of public, and increasingly private, life has to reflect in racial, gender, transgender and disability terms everyone it has an impact on. This has spawned a massive equalities and diversity industry which has received millions of pounds to monitor supposed discrimination where in fact none existed or exists.
The most ridiculous example of this was when the late and entire unlamented Commission for Racial Equality actually stopped a police force in the West of England appointing any recruits because the force had no Chinese officers. This was until it was pointed out that that no Chinese person had ever applied to that force! Pure Python.
All that happened was that in order to keep their numbers up, organisations both private and public employed and appointed totally unsuitable or completely unqualified persons to make their track record look good. The Labour Party imposed all women short lists and we ended up with Emily Thornbury, Dianne Abbott and a legion of other nonentities, imagine what we would be like with all black shortlists, there would be Lutfur Rahmans standing all over the country!
But seriously folks, magistrates have the power to give or withhold bail, to impose restrictions on that bail, to remove restrictions and to perform a whole host of other functions. Verify passport and visa applications, endorse applications for loans and mortgages, and lend their authority to endless other scams.
There has to be an investigation in to how he was appointed and I’m going to take a guess and say it all went through on the nod because he is from and ethnic minority and any investigation would be racist, and nobody wants to be accused of that.
Diane Abbott was elected an MP many many years before Labour introduced an all-women shortlist. Terry Fitzpatrick, Stop making stuff up just so that you could spout your endless nonsense.
Most of your comment shows what a dangerously racist criminal you are. Your diatribe and ranting is full of venom and lacking in any substance.
So that’s who you are Marc. You do have a lot of aliases. I’ll bet you’re glad you didn’t jump ship and join Lutfur aren’t you?
Terry Fitzpatrick, you have an unhealthy obsession with Marc. You need to seek professional help mate.
Terry Fitzpatrick, your comment with dodgy email adds has now been deleted. Pls take a hint from this.
Ted. If you keep deleting my comments I’ll come around your house for a chat.
Oooh! That sounds like a threat from a convicted criminal.