Say NO to anti-Semitism in our classrooms

From  Campaign Against Anti-Semitism UK



TEACHER WHO PRAISED HITLER AND THE HOLOCAUST ON FACEBOOK CONVICTED BUT MAY CONTINUE TO TEACH

Despite being found guilty on Tuesday of praising Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust on Facebook, London teacher Mahmudul Choudhury has walked free with only a £465 fine, £132 of other charges and no restriction on his ability to teach children.

Choudhury posted an image on Facebook of Hitler with the caption “Yes man, you were right” and a further caption saying “[Hitler] could have killed all the Jews but [he] left some of them to let you know why [he] was killing them. Share this picture to tell the truth a whole world [sic].” Choudhury added his own comment: “Yes now we could see why...” He claimed that he posted the image by mistake, but the fact that he edited the post to hone his message of hate shows that this cannot be true.

Although not mentioned in the charges, on his Facebook page Choudhury also ‘likes’ extremist Islamic preachers highlighted by anti-extremist groups as highly controversial. Having already seen Islamic extremist infiltration into other schools around the country it beggars belief that this man is still able to teach London’s children.

It must also be asked how a Nazi-admirer came to be teaching children in the first place despite the trail of red flags raised by his online activity. It is important to note that he was exposed not by an investigation but by former pupils with whom he was friends on Facebook.

Whilst we are thankful to the police and CPS for their zero-tolerance response to Choudhury's antisemitic hate crime, the criminal justice system has today betrayed parents by allowing a convicted antisemitic Nazi-admirer to walk free and continue to teach. It will now be left to his school to take any further action.

We are contacted by concerned parents often and will always help those who wish to protect their children against indoctrination, but ultimately we rely on the courts to dispense justice and the Ministry of Justice must review its sentencing guidelines. The CPS has not yet announced whether the ruling will be appealed.

Teachers have a special responsibility in our society and shape the minds of our children. Mahmudul Choudhury cannot plead ignorance and has today been spared any meaningful punishment for spreading a hateful message which helps create the climate in which Jews are currently being killed across Europe. We commend the police and CPS for pursuing this case with zero tolerance but unreservedly condemn this inexplicably lenient sentence and now expect an investigation into how someone who spread Jew hatred online came to be teaching London’s children.

Please contact the Rt Hon David Laws MP, Minister of State for Schools at david.laws.mp@parliament.uk or by calling 0370 000 2288 to ask what the Department for Education will now do to ensure that Mahmudul Choudhury can no longer teach and how it will ensure that people like him will be exposed and dealt with by the Department for Education instead of by former pupils taking action themselves.

Please also contact the Sentencing Council at info@sentencingcouncil.gsi.gov.uk or by calling 020 7071 5793 to bring the case to their attention, noting that hate crime has been escalating and that a public consultation on sentencing guidance in relation to hate crime would be timely.