Lawyer struck off for sending antisemitic tweets while at Bevan Brittan

_{Husain incoming.}

A solicitor whose firm reported him to the SRA for dodgy tweets has been struck off.

Farrukh Najeeb Husain directed his ire at Jewish barrister Simon Myerson KC and Jewish Times journalist Hugo Rifkind. In the posts he called Rifkind a “Zionist pig” and said that Myerson “wreaks [sic] of white privilege”.

He also referred to Israel as “ShitRael” and asked Rifkind if he was “just mentally retarded as a racist?”

Bevan Brittan, where Husain is understood to have worked as a self-employed contractor in 2021, reported the immigration and employment lawyer to the SRA for his posts.

At his SDT hearing Husain argued that he was anti-Zionist and simply opposed to the state of Israel, rather than antisemitic, and that he had drafted his tweets poorly and hastily.

But the regulator said he appeared “to conflate antisemitism, anti-Zionism and opposition to the Israeli government” and had ended up “demonstrating hostility towards Jews because they are Jewish”.

Husain represented himself during the proceedings but rather lost his rag with the SRA, and with Capsticks, which acted for the regulator at the tribunal, and with Campaign Against Antisemitism, which testified on the SRA’s behalf.

The lawyer accused the SRA of “weaponising new antisemitism” and of being “in bed” with Campaign Against Antisemitism. He also claimed that Capsticks barrister Louise Culleton was a British “imperialist” who “bang[ed] on about the Holocaust because [she] wants to hide [her] country’s own crimes”.

At other points Husain asserted that Myerson was a “fascist”, and claimed the expert witness from Campaign Against Antisemitism was himself an antisemite who was “engaging in the antisemitic trope that there is a collection of Jews who are self-haters, who have turned against their nation and who are spouting conspiracy theories”.

He also went after the SRA’s investigating officer, sending “offensive emails when he was displeased with the course of the SRA’s investigation”.

In one he accused the officer of being "a Zionist apologist and fascist like ur organisation" and claimed the officer was “a Sikh Punjabi” who was “angry" because of tweets made "by me about the Sikh national hero Ranjit Singh as a rapist of Muslim women”.

The tribunal found some, though not all, of Husain’s offensive or inappropriate tweets were antisemitic, but denied the SRA’s application for costs.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said, “This is the right sanction. Farrukh Najeeb Husain’s rhetoric online was vile, and there was no evidence of any regard or remorse for the hurt and disgust that he caused”.

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Comments

Now Farruch off

"But the regulator said he appeared “to conflate antisemitism, anti-Zionism and opposition to the Israeli government” and had ended up “demonstrating hostility towards Jews because they are Jewish” - sounds like could fit right in on the main RoF comment board.

Isn't it funny how quiet progressives have gone with the "Do you think it is ok to be on the same side as racists?" logic? They loved it back in 2016, but suddenly they seem very comfortable indeed to line up alongside this kind of racist themselves with no need to pause and ask if it's a problem with the wider movement. How fashions change, eh?

This is a craycray case.

This is why you shouldn't discuss religion or politics.

"He also claimed that Capsticks barrister Louise Culleton was a British “imperialist” who “bang[ed] on about the Holocaust because [she] wants to hide [her] country’s own crimes”." - In fairness to him, this kind of crank nonsense about how Everything Is British Imperialism features in at least two Guardian opinion columns every week, so you can kind of see how he might have been lulled into a false sense of security about how it wouldn't sound mental if you ever said it out loud. Indeed, if he'd done it for three years at a former polytechnic they'd call it a Sociology course.

"zionist"... "white privilege"... "imperialist"... "fascist"

And that's crank bingo! Come and collect your prize (a sense of moral superiority which almost masks the futility of the methods you use to assert it).

I have a grudging admiration for the real ones, the true loons who don't bother setting up anonymous accounts to spout terrible stuff on. Godspeed, you madman!

Scary that people pass the GLD and the LPC, advise on employment law, and can still be radicalised to such frothing levels where they are obviously imperilling their career.

I have my issues with the SRA, but imperialist scum is a new one on me.

Disgusting. So lawyers have less freedom of speech than everyone else? Follow the party line or lose you Ur job? LOL - this country is a joke.

It's a bit more than straying from the party line, mate. Good to see Tommy Robinson on the board though.

"Scary that people pass the GLD and the LPC, advise on employment law, and can still be radicalised to such frothing levels where they are obviously imperilling their career."

You'd be surprised how open people are about their racism, particularly in a climate where they feel emboldened. In the last few weeks, open and proud racism has been posted in their own name by a trainee at the MInistry of Justice, a Litigation Funder, law firm partners, barristers and KCs. If in real life, on social media and in WhatsApp groups, you surround yourself with others who share your views, you are genuinely shocked when sane people point out that you're a racist.

Anon...where do you work?

@ 11:26

If you knew anything about Robinson, you'd know he is an avowed Zionist. Didn't think before you made that post, did you?

The only thing he did wrong in all that I read was his abeist slur ('mentally retarded') -- another example of weaponising antisemitic concern and making a mockery of actual antisemitism

Before posting anything online, just go away, have a cup of tea and leave it be. Say what you like among friends, air your grievances, put the world to rights. But online you will find it very difficult to come back from those hot moments. So many careers have ended because of a hot-headed moment.

Anyone want to see what a crazy crank looks like have a look at the twitter account belonging to Jonathan Glass - real crazy stuff!

Context is everything but none of those things are necessarily racist. And whilst you might not agree with them, is the SRA really mandated to oversee free speech.

As mentioned, use of retarded’ is no longer acceptable (it seemed to be in the past).

The SRA better have something more than this - or it’s yet further evidence that it is the enemy of the profession.

I don’t understand how the left is falling over itself to align with people like this, whose views are far from rare in his demographic.

@Parsnip - hang on, hang on, let me read my note back to make sure that I've understood you here: the word 'Retard' is not ok, and it's offensive and we shouldn't say it. And quite right too because we can't have people being upset by that kind of thing in 2024. But on the other hand 'ShitRael' is fine in context and we shouldn't read any racist intent into it. And there's no anti-Semitism to see here. Have I got that right?