Pro-Palestine activists get MP harassment convictions overturned

Two pro-Palestinian activists found guilty of harassing a government minister have had their convictions overturned.

Ayeshah Behit, 31, and Hida Ahmed, 26, were found guilty in June of the charge against Alex Davies-Jones, MP for Pontypridd, and both given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay fines.

The pair, who had filmed a confrontation with the politician relating to the war in Gaza, challenged their convictions at Cardiff Crown Court this week and argued their actions fell within their right to free speech.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke ruled the prosecutions were unnecessary and allowed both appeals, noting "less intrusive" measures of dealing with the case had not been pursued.

She added her decision did not imply there was any truth to allegations made about Ms Davies-Jones, who serves as parliamentary under-secretary of state for victims in the UK government.

While out campaigning in the lead-up to the general election in June 2024, Ms Davies-Jones said she saw Ms Behit and Ms Ahmed with leaflets suggesting she was a "full-blown supporter of this genocide" - referring to the war in Gaza.

The Labour MP said she initially approached the defendants to try to defuse the situation, when the pair quizzed her on her voting record and asked why she had abstained on a ceasefire vote in the House of Commons.

Ms Davies-Jones said she had not abstained but had been out of the country at the time.

She said she decided to end the conversation as it became "more aggressive" and "confrontational", but that while walking away the pair followed and shouted at her.

A video of the interaction played in court heard shouts of "Alex Davies-Jones you support genocide" and "what do you think about children being tortured and murdered?".

She described feeling "scared, intimidated and threatened", and she and her team hid in a university building to get away from them.

She also said she decided to stop her campaigning, aware of what had happened to to other MPs, including Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016.

An edited video of the Welsh MP's interaction with the pair was later posted on social media, with suggestions that she was racist and Islamophobic.

She said she still received abuse on social media as a result of the video.

During the three-day appeal, Francesca Cociani, for the appellants, said: "Alex Davies-Jones as an individual and as a political figure come as a whole.

"[But] she was never targeted in her capacity as an individual, it wasn't at her home address that she was targeted.

"This was political speech... it was very clearly to do with Labour Party policy and decisions.

"It was not only in a public place but it was within her constituency... In the middle of a national campaign for the general election."

The court heard it was not uncommon for Labour MPs to be accused of supporting genocide and the conflict in Gaza was a matter of significant public debate in the run-up to the election.

The court heard Ms Behit and Ms Ahmed also put posters on the Labour office in Pontypridd - the base of the MP's campaign - that referred to politicians "enabling genocide" and stickers which read "Alex Davies-Jones how many murdered children is too many?"

Following trial, Ms Ahmed, who had no previous convictions, was handed a 12-month conditional discharge and Ms Behit, who had a previous conviction relating to a protest in Cardiff last year, received an 18-month conditional discharge.

'Justice and common sense'

Judge Lloyd-Clarke said Ms Behit and Ms Ahmed had carried out a "planned and well-orchestrated campaign" intended to harm the electoral prospects of Ms Davies-Jones.

However, she noted that "less intrusive" measures such as a police warning or civil action were not pursued prior to prosecution.

"Nothing in this judgment implies, or should be taken to imply, that there is any truth in the accusations made by the appellants about Ms Davies-Jones.

"We are not satisfied that a prosecution was necessary... the appeals of both defendants are allowed."

Ms Cociani described the decision as "a great day for justice and common sense".

"It was clear that my clients were exercising their freedom of speech during an election, as they were entitled to do, in our free and democratic country," she added.

"Their arrest, prosecution and conviction for harassment were an egregious affront on those rights and they are delighted to have finally been exonerated."