Ansari: Acting pro bono
A South London law firm representing Hamas has put itself at the centre of a political and social media storm after applying to have it removed from the list of proscribed organisations under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The Campaign against Anti-Semitism said it would be writing to the Solicitors Regulation Authority after an examination of solicitor Fahad Ansari’s X account showed outspoken pro-Hamas and anti-Israel comments.
Mr Ansari runs immigration firm Riverway Law and, together with barristers Frank Magennis of Garden Court Chambers and Daniel Grutters of One Pump Court, filmed themselves outside the Home Office on Wednesday about to deliver the application to deproscribe Hamas under section 4 of the 2000 Act. Home secretary Yvette Cooper has 90 days to respond.
The application places ‘Israel’ in quotation marks on the grounds that “it is a colonial term”.
In a press conference, Mr Ansari described Hamas as “an Islamic resistance movement” but he and the firm have been careful to stress that nothing being said should be seen as supporting, or expressing support, for proscribed terrorist organisations – since that is a criminal offence.
“It is not a criminal offence to support the application as long as that does not extend to supporting the organisation itself,” he said.
On X, the solicitor said the lawyers were working for free: “While we would of course prefer to have been paid for the work that we are carrying out, the current separate designation of Hamas as a sanctioned organisation means that it is a criminal offence to take any money from it or from any third party for our services, without obtaining a license from the Treasury.
“The process is long and cumbersome and in the circumstances, we did not want that to operate as an obstacle to our client securing representation that all clients are entitled to…
“Whether one acts pro bono for a client or receives payment, there is an established convention that lawyers shall not be identified with their clients or their clients’ causes as a result of discharging their functions, precisely because it endangers lawyers for carrying out their duties.
“Sadly, the British state has a long history of breaching this convention, the dark low point of which resulted in the murder of Irish lawyers like Pat Finucane and Rosemarie Nelson.”
He added that the restrictions on supporting Hamas did not mean “that, like all lawyers, I do not have my own political views”.
Mr Ansari’s X account makes little secret of those beliefs, describing what is happening in Gaza as a “holocaust” and calling Israeli society “genocidal”. He has previously mourned the deaths of Hamas leaders, calling them martyrs.
One X user posted a screenshot of what she said Riverway Law’s X account previously looked like, with a photo at the top of a banner saying ‘End Zionist control of the UK government’ and also ‘Zionism out of our courts’. The photo now is from this week’s press conference.
Shadow Lord Chancellor Robert Jenrick tweeted: “Just over a year ago Hamas killed the largest number of Jewish people since the Holocaust. They still won’t return 59 hostages. Yet a UK law firm thinks there are arguments for their ban to be lifted. Sickening. It’s no surprise this firm specialises in immigration cases.”
Conservative peer Baroness Foster replied to Riverway’s tweet about the case by saying: “You should be bloody well ashamed of yourselves.” Many other X users condemned the law firm, but equally there were plenty of voices backing it.
A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Judging by what we have uncovered from Fahad Ansari’s X account, he appears to view a bulldozer breaching the border fence between Gaza and Israel on 7th October as ‘one of the most iconic, hopeful images of our time’, hails Hamas founder Ahmed Yassin as a ‘hero’, and, referring to ‘the heroic Palestinian resistance’, expresses hope that ‘every one of their bullets hit their targets’.
“This rhetoric is stomach-churning, but it befits a lawyer who represents Hamas. It is ludicrous that someone with views like these is permitted to practise in the legal profession. We will be writing to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.”
We have approached Mr Ansari for comment on this.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “As Palestinians in Gaza protest for the removal of Hamas, this deeply misconceived challenge shows the regrettable addiction of large parts of the UK Palestine movement to the terrorist organisation, Hamas…
“The firm and others assisting them in bringing this case for Hamas should be ashamed of their support for a proscribed terrorist organisation.”
Mr Magennis has also courted controversy, tweeting on the day of the 7 October attacks on Israel “Victory to the intifiada” and changing the photo on his X account to a bulldozer crashing through the border fence, although he too has since replaced it.
He continues to tweet almost exclusively about Israel, calling for it to be “dismantled”.
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