{"id":272194,"date":"2025-11-19T19:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/272194\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T19:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T19:51:09","slug":"pro-palestine-activists-accused-of-harassing-labour-mp-over-israel-hamas-war-have-convictions-thrown-out-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/272194\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine activists accused of harassing Labour MP over Israel-Hamas war have convictions thrown out | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two pro-Palestinian activists found guilty of harassing a government minister have had their convictions overturned.<\/p>\n

Ayeshah Behit, 32, and Hiba Ahmed, 26, were in June found guilty of the offence against the Labour MP for Pontypridd, Alex Davies-Jones, at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court.<\/p>\n

The pair challenged the ruling<\/a>, asking for the verdict to be determined by a crown court, as they denied they harassed Ms Davies-Jones and argued they were exercising their right to free speech.<\/p>\n

At Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said the prosecutions were unnecessary and allowed both appeals.<\/p>\n

Ms Behit and Ms Ahmed had filmed a confrontation with Ms Davies-Jones, who had been campaigning in Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in the run-up to the general election, on 26 June last year.<\/p>\n

As she made her way to the campaign meeting place, she saw Ms Behit and Ms Ahmed with leaflets which suggested she was a “full-blown supporter of this genocide” – referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict.<\/p>\n

Ms Davies-Jones told the court she was aware of what was on the leaflets and had initially approached the defendants in an attempt to defuse the situation.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Inflation slows to 3.6%, but food costs shoot upwards<\/a>
Weather warnings for snow and ice updated<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Labour<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Labour MP for Pontypridd Alex Davies-Jones<\/p>\n

She said they asked why she had abstained on a Commons ceasefire vote and she decided to end the conversation when it became “confrontational”.<\/p>\n

A video of the interaction was played in court, with the pair shouting as the MP walked away.<\/p>\n

“It was becoming quite scary,” said the MP, who is now parliamentary under-secretary of state for victims.<\/p>\n

An edited video of her interaction was later posted on social media, with suggestions that she was racist and Islamophobic.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Cardiff Crown Court. Pic: iStock<\/p>\n

Ms Ahmed, who has no previous convictions, was given a 12-month conditional discharge in June.<\/p>\n

Ms Behit, who had a previous conviction relating to a protest in Cardiff last year, was handed an 18-month conditional discharge.<\/p>\n

During the three-day appeal hearing, representatives for the pair argued their actions did not amount to harassment and were a reasonable exercise of their rights to freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

Francesca Cociani, for the appellants, said: “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.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Judge Lloyd-Clarke said the actions of the two activists amounted to a “planned and well-orchestrated campaign” which had the aim of harming the electoral prospects of Ms Davies-Jones.<\/p>\n

But she noted that “less intrusive” measures such as a police warning or civil action were not pursued before they were prosecuted.<\/p>\n

“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,” the judge added.<\/p>\n

“We are not satisfied that a prosecution was necessary… the appeals of both defendants are allowed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two pro-Palestinian activists found guilty of harassing a government minister have had their convictions overturned. Ayeshah Behit, 32,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-272194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}