Labour councillor and magistrate warned over anti-Semitic Facebook posts
magistrate and Labour councillor has been issued with a formal misconduct warning after sharing and posting anti-Semitic messages on Facebook.
Ansar Hussain was suspended by the Labour Party in May last year after the Jewish Chronicle brought to light his social media activity between 2015 and 2019.
Mr Hussain, who also sits as a magistrate in the south east of England, had circulated conspiracy theories in an article called “30 Little-Known Facts About Israel”, and compared Jewish people with Nazis.
The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office has now announced a formal warning being issued to Mr Hussain as a result of the social media posts.
“In May 2022, Mr Hussain informed his bench chair that the Labour Party had suspended him as member pending an investigation into his social media activity”, said the body.
“Following a judicial disciplinary investigation, a conduct panel of the South East Region Conduct Advisory Committee found that Mr Hussain had, on four occasions between 2015 and 2019, shared and responded to social media posts which contained anti-Semitic content.
“The panel decided that Mr Hussain’s actions, two of which took place before he became a magistrate, were prejudiced, and fell below the high standards of conduct expected of a judicial office-holder.
“In deciding to issue Mr Hussain with a formal warning, Mr Justice Keehan and the Lord Chancellor took into consideration that he reported the matter to his bench chair straightaway, accepted responsibility for his conduct and that it was highly improper, apologised, closed his public social media accounts, and voluntarily undertook diversity and inclusivity training.”
Mr Hussain, a former Mayor of the town of Wolverton and an elected Milton Keynes councillor from 2021, is now back in the Labour fold following his initial suspension. He issued an apology at the time the posts were made public.
He is free to continue sitting as a magistrate after receiving the formal warning.
