A teacher has been banned from the classroom for life after he was convicted of posting an antisemitic message on social media.
Mahmudul Choudhury, 36, was banned from teaching last week by a panel ruling on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.
The decision came after Mr Choudhury was fined £465 for posting an image of Adolf Hitler on his Facebook page with the caption: “I could have killed all the Jews but I left some of them to let you know why I was killing them.”
The father-of-two from Tower Hamlets in east London, who taught at the Cumberland School in east London, posted the message with the hashtag #ProtectiveEdge, in reference to the Israel-Gaza war last summer.
He was arrested by police after his former student, who is Jewish, but who has not been named, saw the post on Facebook.
The student had attended the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College in south-east London, where Mr Choudhury once taught.
Mr Choudhury, who denied that he held antisemitic views, reportedly told police at the time that he had accidentally shared the image. Mr Choudhury claimed that he had been fasting for at least 17 hours a day when the Facebook post was uploaded.
However, last week, a panel ruled that they “[did] not accept that Mr Choudhury’s actions were not deliberate,” adding: “The panel noted that Mr Choudhury not only re-posted an image supporting the Holocaust; he added a comment in support of that message.
“Accordingly, the panel makes a recommendation to the Secretary of State that a prohibition order should be imposed with immediate effect.”
The panel took account of a message of apology sent by Mr Choudhury to the former student – as well as his attendance of inter-faith events, but added: “[the panel] has seen little evidence that Mr Choudhury has any insight or remorse for his actions.”
Panel decision-maker Paul Heathcote, who ruled on behalf of the Secretary of State, said Mr Choudhury “is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach at any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.”
As a result of his post, Mr Choudhury was ordered to pay a fine of £465, costs of £85 and compensation to the victim amounting to £47.
