Magistrate and Green councillor who shared Hamas video given formal warning
Abdul Malik's explanation for presence of the 18-minute film on his social media feed 'publicly discredited', says Judicial Conduct Office
Lee Harpin is the Jewish News's political editor
A magistrate and Green Party councillor has been given a formal warning for serious misconduct by a judicial watchdog for sharing a Hamas video on social media.
Abdul Malik, a Bristol City councillor and mosque leader, had initially denied sharing a video showing Hamas defending the 7 October massacres and calling Israel “a cancer that should be eradicated” ahead of last year’s local elections.
Green Party leader Carla Denyer said she was “satisfied” Malik’s case had been dealt with last year as she accepted claims he had not shared an 18-minute video of a Hamas press conference.
The footage showed a spokesman for the terror group described the 7 October massacre as a “supremely defensive act” that “targeted only Israeli military bases and compounds”, and said Israel was an “an animal state”.
After Malik was elected last year, Bristol Green Party made him their budget and finance chair and placed him on their Communities Committee and made him deputy chief whip.
But Tuesday’s finding by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) exposes Malik’s initial explanation to the Green Party about how the Hamas video came to be on his social media feed as false.
The Green candidate’s sharing of video was intially raised with party co-leaders by Lord Mann, the government’s adviser on antisemitism. When shown the screenshot, the party insisted that Malik had not published the post himself.
A party spokesman later apologised, saying Malik was “unwittingly tagged into an offensive post that he assures us he did not himself publish”.
Co-leader Denyer, who had continued to campaign for Malik and appeared on his election leaflets, also told the Guardian that she was “satisfied” his case had been “dealt with.”
But now, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO) has found that Malik had “failed to exercise due care and diligence” and his actions “had a detrimental effect” upon the “reputation of the magistracy”.
A nominated JCIO committee member found that Malik’s initial denial of responsibility for the post “was publicly discredited and compounded the damage caused by the initial sharing of the post”.
In a statement on Tuesday, the JCIO said the post on Malik’s Facebook timeline in October 2023 contained “a video from Hamas regarding their attack on southern Israel”.
The JCIO added: “He explained that he had shared the post without checking its source or content, and did not endorse it, comment on it or ‘like’ it. He agreed the post was offensive and he emphasised that he does not support Hamas.
“He said he had been consistently critical of Hamas in his position as chair of a large mosque in Bristol. He removed the post as soon as he became aware of it and said he regretted sharing it and had learned from the incident.”
The JCIO said Malik claimed his original explanation was given “in good faith” and that he had revised it when he realised it was not correct.
Committee members recommended that Mr Malik be issued with a formal warning, noting his “previously unblemished conduct record and good standing within the community”.
The added he had been “consistently remorseful” following the incident.
High Court judge Mr Justice Keehan, as well as the Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood, agreed with the sanction, the statement added.
In a statement the Green Party said Malik had “a long history of condemning Hamas in his role in his local mosque”.
A statement added: “Crucially he has shown learning from the incident and understood the offence and hurt it caused.
“Councillor Malik has the party’s full backing as an effective and hard-working councillor in Bristol and hopes that this will draw a line under this serious ill-judged action.”
Malik has been the chair of Easton Jamia Mosque and previously served as a Liberal Democrat councillor for four years, and also stood as a parliamentary candidate for the party in Bristol East.
He joined the Labour Party but was told he would not be selected as a candidate. Friends say he also attempted to join the local Conservatives.
Jewish News has approached the Greens to see if they now plan to take further action against Malik.
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