The Paraglider Girls’ Double Whammy
The case of the Gazan asylum seeker freed by the judge that ‘liked’ a Free Palestine post
There has been a good deal of competition over the last four months but the case of the three girls protesting with images of Hamas paragliders stitched to their clothing - even before any response from Israel to the October 7th atrocities – was singularly appalling. Like many, I was relieved to hear that they were arrested and faced trial.
But over the last twenty four hours, anybody following this case could be forgiven for thinking that they had woken up in a Michel Houellebecq novel but I do not think any author of speculative fiction could have dreamed up this scenario. While the three girls have indeed been tried in court and found guilty by a jury, there are two aspects of this case that are very troubling.
Firstly, one of the defendants, Heba Alhayek, has come to Britain from Gaza and was granted asylum because her family had been critical of Hamas. This in itself is distressing. Given that she has now been convicted of “glorification of the actions” of Hamas, one would hope that she’d now be welcomed back with open arms. What are the prospects of her being deported back to Gaza?
Secondly, there is the case of the judge that allowed the girls to walk free from court with a conditional discharge, in spite of the jury’s guilty verdict. Judge Tanweer Ikram, who in December 2023 jailed six retired police officers for the private messages they had posted in a WhatsApp group, turns out to have liked a LinkedIn post by Sham Uddin which read:
“Free Free Palestine. To the Israeli terrorist both in the United Kingdom, the United States, and of course Israel you can run, you can bomb but you cannot hide — justice will be coming for you.”
Ikram has since claimed not to have realised that he liked the post but, as of this morning, has deleted his LinkedIn account altogether. Why?
How does a judge with views like Ikram’s get appointed in the first place? It turns out that candidates for judicial office in courts and tribunals in England and Wales are appointed by the Judicial Appointments Commission. On the 11th of December last year, it was announced that, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, His Majesty the King had approved the appointment of a new Commissioner.
His name? Deputy Senior District Judge Tanweer Ikram CBE DL.