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Sacked: Cabinet Office trainer exposed by JC for wishing death on Zionists
'Mizan the Poet' ran an inclusivity workshop for civil servants in 2019
December 23, 2021 12:24
'Mizan the Poet' ran an inclusivity workshop for civil servants in 2019
December 23, 2021 12:24An anti-racism trainer who ran an inclusivity workshop for civil servants at the Cabinet Office has been suspended from the Labour Party and fired from his job after the JC revealed he had wished death and mutilation on “Zionists”.
Mizanur Rahman, known as Mizan the Poet, oversaw a training session at the Cabinet Office in 2019 called “an inclusive Britain”, despite having shared pictures that likened Zionists to Nazis and written: “Israel = white supremacy.”
In 2014, Mr Rahman responded to a tweet about an Israeli soldier who had lost his hands in an attack by Hamas with the tweet: “Hopefully he, and all IDF soldiers and Zionists, will lose more than just their limbs … their lives!!!!”
In a recent post, Mr Rahman revealed that following the revelations by the JC, he had lost an appeal to become a Labour candidate and received a notice of investigation by the party over three posts which he said were not “offensive or even controversial in any way”.
He also revealed he had been dismissed from his job — believed to be as a book club manager — following an investigation into his views.
He also led an event at the Ministry of Defence in 2019, in which he spoke out against “British Israelis joining the #Israel Defence forces and committing human rights abuses in #Palestine”.
Mr Rahman posted this week: “They were badly worded set of tweets that do not represent the person that I am today and I have the track record of engaging with the Jewish community to prove this. But even with my track record I still am a fervent advocate for Palestinian rights and I am a supporter of their liberation struggle.”
He wrote that he was immediately suspended from work when they started an investigation into the tweets but that at the disciplinary hearing he believed his “views on the Palestinian liberation struggle were on trial”.
He wrote: “Even though I was dismissed, the fact that I stuck to my principles, even at a significant cost, is a source of strength to me.”
The JC contacted the Labour Party and Mr Rahman for comment.
The Cabinet Office said it had reviewed its background checks on outside speakers.