Begun August 2024 | 3,500 words | Contents
In 2024 annoying Leicester activist Majid Freeman was charged with terror offences. It’s a tale of muddled ideology, self-promotion, possible abuse of power, and a new MP with links to extremism.
The place
Leicester, UK
The people
Majid Freeman | Muslim campaigner
Jon Ashworth | Former MP for Leicester South
Shockat Adam | Current MP for Leicester South
The quote
Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel? | Alexander Pope
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Top 🔼
Contents
- Context
- Introduction
- The charges against Freeman
- Freeman vs Ashworth vs Freeman
- Ashworth vs Adam
- Adam’s links to extremism
- Conclusion
- A bigger threat: Hindutva
- Comments requested
- Update: Freeman jailed for 2022 offence
- Addendum: Labour Together
- Readers’ comments
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Context
A story that needs a post of its own
This started as an update to another story – but it’s a story in its own right.
This post about the 2024 prosecution of Muslim campaigner Majid Freeman for terror offences started as an update to my 2023 post The riots: Hindutva in Leicester.
Freeman featured in that post because during the 2022 riots he muddied the waters by posting inflammatory claims.
Two years later in July 2024, immediately after campaigning against prominent Labour MP Jon Ashworth on the Gaza issue, Freeman was charged with terror offences, including supporting Hamas.
Although Freeman seems sincere in his beliefs, he’s an annoying stirrer and self-publiciser. He’s not a sympathetic character. But his prosecution seems unfair.
Separately, in September 2024 Freeman was jailed – also unfairly – for a public order offence dating back to the 2022 riots.
This tale, previously buried in a remote update to a post about events two years ago, deserves a post of its own
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Introduction
Coincidence? Possibly not
During the 2024 UK general election campaign Muslim campaigner Majid Freeman confronted Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth on video about Gaza. Two weeks later Ashworth lost his seat. Five days after that Freeman was charged with terror offences. Coincidence?
On 21 June, during the election campaign, Majid Freeman posted a video of his public confrontation with MP Jon Ashworth about the MP’s voting record on Gaza. The video went viral.
On 22 June independent candidate Shockat Adam, standing mainly on the issue of Gaza, reposted Freeman’s video with added anti-Ashworth comments.
Then…
- On 4 July, Ashworth’s seat was unexpectedly lost to Adam.
- On 9 July, Freeman was charged with terror offences including supporting proscribed Gaza group Hamas.
- On 10 July, Ashworth challenged Adam about his apparent association with Freeman.
So… two weeks after Freeman’s video went viral Ashworth lost his supposedly safe seat to Adam. Five days after that Freeman was charged. The next day Ashworth angrily challenged Adam.
Q: Did an angry Ashworth abuse his power to get Freeman charged?
A: It looks like a strong possibility.
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The charges against Freeman
Downfall of a dedicated self-publicist
In July 2024 Majid Freeman was arrested and charged with terror offences. His trial was due to be held in Birmingham in September 2025.
(See Freeman’s September 2024 imprisonment for a separate public order offence below.)
On 9 July 2024 Majid Freeman, aka Majid Novsarka, was arrested by Leicestershire Police and charged with two terrorism offences: encouragement of terrorism (re Hebdo) and supporting a proscribed organisation (Hamas).
At his first pre-trial hearing Freeman was given bail. His trial, due in 2025, was going to be in Leicester but has been moved to Birmingham.
Prosecutor Lee Ingham said the move was needed because of ‘strong feelings’ in Leicester and because Freeman was ‘fairly well-known’ in the area as a ‘political activist’. However, the trial could safely be held in Leicester – Ingham’s concerns are largely misplaced.
There are certainly ‘strong feelings’ in Leicester – about Gaza. Hence Labour’s shock loss in Leicester South. Freeman clearly shares those feelings – and seeks to exploit them to enhance his public image. But his status as a ‘political activist’ with local support is exaggerated – by him.
Is Freeman, the self-styled political activist, ‘fairly well known’? As a self-appointed spokesperson for local Muslims, Freeman does get some local recognition. And Freeman’s posts and activities attract some media attention – which he apparently craves.
The mainstream media, too lazy for due diligence, sometimes gullibly report Freeman’s comments. The more partisan media feature Freeman occasionally and portray him according to their bias. Pro-Modi and Zionist media portray Freeman as an Islamist devil; and Muslim media portray him as an altruistic angel. (Take your pick – or split the difference.)
So prosecutor Ingham’s assessment of Freeman as ‘fairly well known’ is accurate. But if his trial was in Leicester, there’d probably be no crowds of protesters with ‘strong feelings’.
However, Hindu-Muslim tension has simmered in Leicester since the 2022 unrest. During the unrest one of Freeman’s posts was notoriously inaccurate and inflammatory. So perhaps Ingham was right to err on the safe side.
As for the charges, Freeman’s alleged crimes are perhaps the product of muddled thinking rather than cohesive ideology. Freeman’s passion for Muslim causes, local or international, seems confused with his obsessive self-promotion.
Freeman’s alleged support for Hamas perhaps shows the problem with acting mainly alone. Unchecked, righteous support for the Palestinian cause can too easily shade into indefensible support for Hamas.
Supporters of Hamas say it’s a legitimate response to Israeli occupation. But such support became illegal in the UK when the political and military wings of Hamas were proscribed as a single terrorist organisation in 2021; and indefensible when Hamas’s military wing committed the October 2023 atrocities.
(A September 2024 poll showed 39 percent of Gazans still supported Hamas. See my post, Amazingly, Gazans still support Hamas.)
The Hamas atrocities inevitably sparked a savage Israeli response, resulting, by August 2024, in an estimated 40-50,000 deaths and over 20,000 life-changing injuries. Many casualties were women and children.
That ‘collateral damage’ is the result of Israel’s de facto genocidal strategy (and the international community’s craven complicity). But it’s also the direct consequence of the brutal October 2023 attack by Hamas – the organisation Freeman allegedly supported.
The court was told Freeman‘s allegedly offending posts were mainly on Instagram and X. Freeman was given conditional bail: he was ordered not to use or access social media to post or transmit anything (with the exception of WhatsApp).
That must be frustrating for the dedicated self-publicist,
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Freeman vs Ashworth vs Freeman
The final straw?
During the 2024 UK general election, Majid Freeman posted a video of his Gaza-related confrontation with MP Jon Ashworth. Five days after Ashworth lost his seat, Freeman was charged with two terror offences, one Gaza-related. Was Ashworth responsible?
In June 2024 during the general election, Majid Freeman campaigned against Leicester South sitting MP Jon Ashworth because of his voting record on Gaza.
On 21 June Freeman posted a video (his favourite means of self-promotion) of him haranguing Ashworth in the street about his Gaza voting record. The video went viral with over 1m views.
Freeman’s 100-second video shows Ashworth videoing Freeman videoing him whilst aggressively questioning him. Ashworth, clearly upset, doesn’t repond to Freeman’s questions but complains about Freeman’s ‘bullying’ and ‘intimidation’.
The next day, 22 June, independent Leicester South candidate Shockat Adam, who was standing mainly on the Gaza issue, reposted Freeman’s video with added anti-Ashworth comments.
Two weeks later on 4 July Ashworth unexpectedly lost his seat to Adam. Five days after that on 9 July Freeman was charged with terror offences. Was Ashworth responsible for that?
Ashworth had faced other street confrontations about his Gaza voting record. Was Freeman’s viral video and its reposting by Adam the last straw?
As a Leicester South constituent, I met and briefly spoke with Ashworth towards the end of his campaign. He seemed badly rattled.
Did the pugnacious and well-connected Labour insider – upset, angry and massively piqued after losing his seat and his expected cabinet post – pull strings to get Freeman charged?
What strings might an angry Ashworth have pulled? He was a close ally of Kier Starmer, newly prime minister and former head of the UK prosecution service. That would have been a useful string.
Anger is said to be the second stage of grief, after denial. Perhaps Ashworth skipped denial and went straight to anger. The Wikipedia entry on the five stages of grief says of the anger stage:
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The responses of a person undergoing this phase would be: ‘Why me? It’s not fair! How can this happen to me? Who is to blame?‘
[My bolding]
(The ‘five stages’ model was developed by psychiatrist Elizabeth Kübler-Ross to help understand and improve the mental health of patients with terminal illness. It was later extended to grieving friends and family; and then to anyone suffering serious loss. Like Ashworth.)
Freeman has history. He’s got form for foolish flirtation with extremism. But if he deserved prosecuting for it, it should have happened ten years ago.
In 2014 the Torygraph published a thorough and detailed exposé of Freeman as an online supporter of proscribed Islamist terror groups including Isis and al-Qaeda.
The article, by award-winning investigative journalist and – at that time – obsessive Islamist hunter Andrew Gilligan (of dodgy dossier fame), uncovered damning evidence and made serious accusations. Freeman was questioned by the police but not charged.
If Freeman wasn’t worth charging then, why make these flimsier charges now? Is it because angry Ashworth pulled strings? The timing makes that look likely:
- 21 June – Freeman posted his video of his aggressive confrontation with Ashworth about Gaza.
- 22 June – Freeman’s viral video was reposted by Gaza-focussed candidate Shockat Adam.
- 4 July – Adam unexpectedly won Leicester South, narrowly overturning Ashworth’s large majority.
- 9 July – Freeman was charged with terror offences, one Gaza-related.
- 10 July – Ashworth challenged Adam about his association with Freeman.
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Ashworth vs Adam
‘Sour grapes’
A week after losing his seat, Jon Ashworth publicly challenged new MP Shockat Adam to explain his apparent association with terror suspect Majid Freeman. Adam’s team dismissed the challenge as sour grapes.
On 10 July, the day after Majid Freeman was charged, Jon Ashworth (newly head of powerful centre-right Labour thinktank Labour Together) publicly challenged new Leicester South MP Shockat Adam to explain his apparent association with Freeman.
An angry Ashworth was implying Adam shared Freeman’s alleged support for Hamas. Ashworth’s challenge failed to get a direct answer from Adam – but it posed a fair question: was Adam associated with Freeman?
Freeman campaigned against Ashworth on the Gaza issue central to Adam’s campaign – but that didn’t necessarily show a connection between Adam and Freeman.
Adam has denied any association. Asked about Freeman in an interview in September. Adam said:
In reply to my request for comments, an assistant to Adam said:
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From what we can tell from [Freeman’s] social media feeds he did not advocate for any one candidate (rather anyone but Mr Ashworth) and stated he was unsure who he would vote for and even stated Shockat should stand down in favour of The Green Party candidate.
But a reposted tweet suggests an association. On 22 June Adam reposted Freeman’s 21 June viral video of his Gaza-based confrontation with Ashworth.
According to a (paywalled) Financial Times report the reposted video – since removed from Adam’s X account – had anti-Ashworth comments added by Adam which supported Freeman’s line of questioning:
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Adam wrote above the video, in a reference to the ceasefire vote, that Ashworth was “ashamed” of Labour’s “pro-genocide position”. “If you don’t want to be asked questions by the public when you are canvassing on our streets,” he wrote, “then maybe you should just stay at home.”
That immediate reposting of Freeman’s video complete with Adam’s approving message suggests a possible connection between Adam and Freeman.
Adam’s team dismissed Ashworth’s challenge about Freeman as mere ‘sour grapes’, but Ashworth’s implied criticism of Adam had some substance.
Adam – like Freeman – has history. He has personal, fraternal and campaign links to extremism.
The Trial: Ashworth vs Freeman (and Adam) 🔺
Adam’s links to extremism
As implied by Jon Ashworth, Shockat Adam has links to extremism. The links are weak but now he’s an MP he should cut them.
Introduction | MEND | FOA | The Muslim Vote | Government review | Adam/Patel surname | Advice for Adam
Introduction
In challenging Shockat Adam about his apparent association with Majid Freeman immmediately after Freeman was charged with terror offences, Jon Ashworth implied Adam had links to extremism.
Adam may not be associated with Freeman but he does have links to extremism. He was Leicester chair of Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND) and his brother founded and runs Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA). Both groups have been listed by the government as ‘extremist’.
Also, his campaign was backed by The Muslim Vote, a group with extremist links.
Adam helped run ‘extremist’ group MEND
Until March 2024, Adam, then known as Shockat Adam Patel – regarding his change of name, see below – was the Leicester chair of Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), an organisation labelled by the previous UK government as extremist.
MEND’s stated aim is:
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To empower and encourage British Muslims within local communities to be more actively involved in British media and politics.
However, MEND has been accused of promoting Islamist, anti-Jewish and anti-gay views.
Adam’s brother runs ‘extremist’ group FOA
Adam’s brother Ismail Patel – regarding their different surnames, see below – founded and runs Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA), established in 1979 in Leicester. Like MEND, FOA was labelled extremist by the previous government.
FOA, prominent at Palestine demonstrations, says it demands political change for Palestine. But it’s connected (as is Hamas) to the political-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.
Patel’s speeches at demonstrations show his support for political Islamism – that is, sharia government and law based on an extreme interpretation of Islam, as seen in Iran, Afghanistan and, under Hamas, Gaza. Patel has praised Hamas for standing up to Israel.
Mend and FOA both contribute to separatism by misrepresenting all UK Muslims as victims of Islamophobia. (This oddly matches the Modi/RSS strategy of promoting Hindu nationalism by misrepresenting Hindus as victims of Hinduphobia.)
Adam backed by leaflets from The Muslim Vote
During Adam’s campaign, leaflets from The Muslim Vote were circulated in Leicester South.
The Muslim Vote has the declared aim of supporting candidates opposed to Conservative and Labour stances on the Israel–Hamas war. But the group is linked to extremists.
The Muslim Vote is linked to Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, a proscribed terrorist organisation; and to the Cordoba Foundation, which has links to the political Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. and whose leader has publicly supported Hamas.
Leicestershire Police were investigating a possible breach of electoral law: the leaflets from The Muslim Vote didn’t say who funded them or which candidate was supported.
But that was a technicality – the main issue was that Adam’s campaign was boosted by leaflets from a group with extremist links.
Update: November 2024
‘Extremist’ listings under review
Mend and FOA were listed as extremist organisations by the previous Tory government. I asked the new Labour government about the current status of such listings. In reply, they said:
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This government takes the threat of extremism very seriously and will continue to work with partners to tackle extremism in all its forms. The rapid review ordered by the Home Secretary earlier this year is considering the current understanding of extremism, including Islamist and far-right extremism. Following its conclusion, the government will be setting out its strategic approach.
Adam/Patel surname
Shortly before the 2024 general election, Adam, then known as Shockat Adam Patel dropped the Patel surname he shares with his brother, Ismail, the founder of FOA. Adam’s full name is Shockat Hussain Adam Patel.
Patel’s usually a Hindu name, but it’s also the name of some Gujarati Memon Muslims whose ancestors converted from Hinduism. Adam’s a Memon Muslim.
Adam, campaigning mainly against the ethnic cleansing of Muslims in Gaza, may have dropped his Patel surname to prevent Muslim voters thinking he was Hindu.
But he may also have dropped it to mask his association with his brother’s extreme views – and with MEND.
Unsolicited advice for Adam: cut these links
Adam’s Palestinian cause is just, but his links to extremism might damage that cause. If, as it seems, he himself is not extremist, he should renounce these links.
He might lose some support, but with his history he can’t make the omelette of democratic integrity without breaking those eggs.
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Conclusion
If Ashworth pulled strings he should come clean
Jon Ashworth was wrong if he pulled strings to get Majid Freeman charged. Freeman might be guilty as charged, but he’s no terrorist.
No doubt the charges against Majid Freeman are tick-box accurate. But the prosecution – however brought about – is excessive.
Even if Freeman did provocatively urge terrorism and support a proscribed group, he’s clearly not a terrorist.
Nor is Freeman likely to influence anyone. He has some followers, but basically he’s a delusional loner. However, he’s not a dangerous lone wolf, more a sick puppy.
If Freeman’s convicted, a custodial sentence would be inappropriate. He should be (metaphorically) de-wormed, and sent home with a tag and a banning order. Deprived of social media, he might get a life.
To paraphrase Pope: Who breaks this butterfly upon a wheel? If it was angry Jon Ashworth, he should come clean to the court.
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A bigger threat: Hindutva
Shame on MI5
The authorities are right to pursue Islamism but Freeman’s alleged offence is small potatoes compared with the bigger and much more dangerous threat of imported Hindutva extremism.
Despite my criticism of Majid Freeman, we share concern about a major issue: the anti-Muslim Hindutva extremism being spread amongst UK Hindus by the Indian fascist RSS organisation.
It’s a shame the UK security services which have crushed annoying butterfly Freeman aren’t equally diligent in response to that much bigger threat.
Hindutva extremism is being actively propagated to the UK Hindu diaspora by these well-organised RSS agencies:
No charges have been brought against those responsible – perhaps because successive UK governments have cravenly sought a trade deal with the Indian government of RSS Hindutva fascist Narendra Modi.
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Comments requested
It’s only fair
I approached Jon Ashworth and Shockat Adam for comment. (There’s no way to contact Majid Freeman as far as I know.)
An assistant to Adam replied to say:
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Although Freeman opposed Ashworth he never specifically supported Adam. He even said Adam should stand down in favour of the Green candidate.
That’s apparently true. This post’s been changed accordingly.
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Adam ‘strongly refutes’ this post’s assertion of his links to extremism.
Presumably that should be ‘strongly denies’. Refutation would need proof this post’s wrong – the reply offers none.
- During the riots Adam worked tirelessly to build community cohesion.
Ashworth hasn’t replied.
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Update: September 2024
Freeman jailed for 2022 offence
Just to complicate things, on 9 September 2024 the bothersome Majid Freeman was jailed – harshly – for a separate minor offence dating from the 2022 riots.
On 17 September 2022 – on the day of the Leicester anti-Muslim Hindutva march – Muslim activist Freeman was arrested under the Public Order Act 1986 and charged with:
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Using abusive words with the intention that violence would be provoked
Almost two years later at Northampton magistrates court on 19 June 2024 (two days before his video confrontation with Jon Ashworth) Freeman was convicted of the offence under section 4 of the act.
On 9 September, Freeman was sentenced in Northampton to 22 weeks in prison – close to the maximum of six months for a section 4 offence.
None of the mainstream media reported Freeman being jailed – not even local rag the Leicester Mercury or the borderline-racist Daily Mail.
It was only reported in partisan media: anti-Freeman Hindu and Jewish media, and pro-Freeman Muslim media. (The pro-Freeman 5pillars at least had some useful factual content.)
How Freeman’s prison sentence will affect the progress of his separate prosecution for terror offences remains to be seen.
There’s also, apparently, the question of whether reporting this case breaches the Contempt of Court Act 1981 by prejudicing Freeman’s terror trial. Having checked out the act, I don’t think it does – but watch this space.
(Is that Plod I hear approaching? Shall I be joining Freeman in deluded messianic martyrdom? As almost no one is reading this, probably not.)
Regardless of that, Freeman’s near-maximum prison sentence is ridiculous. Any prison sentence for ‘abusive words’ would be harshly excessive. Free Freeman!
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Addendum
Labour Together
UK thinktank Labour Together, newly headed in July 2024 by defeated former Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth, began as a ‘unity’ project but has morphed into a powerful centre-right lobby group.
Originally named Common Good Labour, the group was set up in 2015 as a ‘unity’ project after the resignation of Labour Leader Ed Miliband following the party’s general election defeat.
After leftist Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership election, the renamed centrist Labour Together plotted against him (as did Ashworth).
Labour Together’s fundamentally pompous deceitfulness was perfectly illustrated by its self-important but deeply flawed June 2020 review of Labour’s 2019 general election disaster.
The Labour Together review ignored the elephant in the room: free movement from Eastern Europe.
Many Labour voters voted to leave the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum. According to polls, the main reason was the high level of unrestricted immigration from poor east European countries under the EU’s free movement of people rule.
Having been loftily dismissed by metrocentric Labour as ignorant provincial racists, many of those ‘red wall’ Labour voters voted Tory in 2019. But the 153-page Labour Together review made no mention whatsoever of ‘free movement’ or ‘Eastern Europe’.
The Labour Together review discussed lost voters and immigration as an issue, but the free movement issue was ignored. EU free movement of people was still supported by Labour metrocentrics, including, as recently as January 2020, by then leadership front-runner Kier Starmer.
The Labour Together review nerdily resorted to statistics, claiming voters associated with the leave side had deserted in 2015 and again in 2017, so the 2019 result only needed a small shift. But the reason for them voting to leave was duplicitously ignored.
Since then, Labour Together has gone on to bigger and worse things.
Now funded by super-rich donors, parasitically implanted in the Labour government, and promoting neoliberal private-funding policies, Labour Together makes the Tories’ hated Tufton Street ‘shady’ lobbyists look like amateurs.
The End
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Comments
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