The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced recently that Conservative MP Bob Stewart was found guilty of racially abusing Sayed Ahmed Alwadei, a Bahraini activist, outside an event hosted by the Government of Bahrain in December 2022. The verdict was passed down after a one-day trial held at a Westminster Magistrates court. Stewart’s remarks, telling Alwadei to “go back to Bahrain” and accusing him of taking money from the UK, led to the hate crime conviction.
The chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, handed down a fine of £600 to Stewart without any jail time. Notably, the CPS stated that Stewart would have been fined only £400, but the use of racist language, which Stewart claimed was misinterpreted, was deemed a serious hate crime. This upped the court-imposed penalty. In addition to the fine, Stewart also has to shoulder legal costs amounting to £835.
The BBC reported that the prosecutor, Paul Jarvis, informed the court that Alwadei felt “upset and humiliated” by Stewart’s comments. Contrarily, Paul Cavin KC, Stewart’s solicitor, defended his client arguing that Alwadei had “no right” to confront Stewart in public and argued that any hostility was a reaction to Alwadei’s behavior towards Stewart. Stewart denied racism charges, contending that his comments were in response to accusations of corruption and theft made by Alwadei, with his “honour was at stake”.
In response to the verdict, opposition parties, including Labour and the Liberal Democrats, have called for the Conservative whip to be removed from Bob Stewart. Labour Chair Anneliese Dodds tweeted terms such as “totally unacceptable” describing Stewart’s behaviour. If the whip were to be removed, Stewart would then have to sit as an independent MP. As of now, the Conservative Party and Bob Stewart have not yet issued any remark on the guilty verdict. You can find more in-depth coverage on the case in this JURIST News report.