Magistrate quits as Judicial Conduct Investigations Office rules he should be removed for antisemitic comments

Abul “Abz” Hussain has resigned from the magistracy before he could be removed from office by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, following proceedings instigated by Campaign Against Antisemitism. In December 2014, the Sunday Telegraph published an exposé revealing that Hussain, was a serving magistrate, despite having published antisemitic comments on Facebook.

Campaign Against Antisemitism immediately contacted the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office which agreed with Hussain that he could not continue to serve as a magistrate until their investigation concluded. The investigation has taken more than a year, but the result is the right one, even though Hussain resigned from office before he could be removed by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice.

The comments were first brought to light by Ted Jeory, who blogs about politics in the East End of London. Jeory’s revelation in 2010 of Hussain’s antisemitic views led to him being expelled from his senior position in George Galloway’s Respect Party, but it was not until the Sunday Telegraph exposé that we found out that he was still passing sentence as a Justice of the Peace.

The Facebook comments related to Abul Hussain’s facial hair and degenerated into slurs against Jews, including “u know the worlds coming to an end when a jew accuses another of being his kind!” and “jews like u are boring so find everything lame, here’s a penny go put it in the bank and u just might get a pound after ten years interest!”

We commend the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office for its ruling that antisemitism must be treated with zero tolerance, our only regret being the protracted nature of this investigation.

The Judicial Conduct Investigations Office told Campaign Against Antisemitism: “Mr Abul Hussain, a magistrate appointed to the North East London Area, has resigned from judicial office following an investigation into an allegation that he had posted racist and antisemitic comments on social media. A Disciplinary Panel recommended that Mr Hussain be removed from the judiciary, but he resigned before the disciplinary process had been formally concluded. His resignation took effect from 26 August 2015. Had he not resigned, the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice would have removed him from judicial office.”