Judge who ‘decided not to punish’ 3 women guilty of pro-Hamas terror offences is slammed for ‘liking’ pro-Palestine post
A JUDGE who decided ‘not to punish’ three women guilty of pro-Hamas terrorist charges had earlier appeared to like a social media post declaring “Free Free Palestine”.
Jewish groups said the post may be evidence of bias and plan to report Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram to the CPS.
Heba Alhayek, 29, Pauline Ankunda, 26, and Noimutu Olayinka Taiwo, 27, displayed images of paragliders at a pro-Palestinian march in October last year.
But despite being found guilty of showing support for a terrorist group, they dodged jail.
They were handed 12-month conditional discharges at Westminster Magistrates’ Court this week, after Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram said he had “decided not to punish” them.
Hamas militants used paragliders to enter Israel in attacks that killed more than 1,000 Israelis on October 7.
Writing on X, the Campaign Against Antisemitism said Mr Ikram’s social media activity suggests “there may be grounds to set aside his ruling” on the basis of “actual or apparent bias”.
The antisemitism charity attached a screenshot of a LinkedIn post which appears to have been liked by Mr Ikram, which reads: “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.”
The charity said they would share their findings with the Crown Prosecution Service, which “may wish to appeal the verdict”.
It also said they were considering “various legal options”, adding: “We are also submitting a complaint to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.”
A Downing Street source said: “Serious questions are being raised in government on how a judge posting this online was able to preside over this landmark case and what this means for the sentencing decision. It’s deeply troubling.”
On behalf of Ikram, a spokeswoman for the Judicial Office press office said: “I didn’t know that I’d liked that post. If I did then it was a genuine mistake.”