British lawmaker charged with racially abusing Bahraini activist

Date:

London (AP) — A British lawmaker from the governing Conservative Party has been charged with racially abusing a Bahraini activist, London police said Monday.

Bob Stewart, 73, is alleged to have told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei to “go back to Bahrain” following the altercation on Dec. 14 outside a historic Foreign Office building in the heart of the capital.

Stewart, who is currently chairman of the all-parliamentary group on Bahrain, is also alleged to have told Alwadaei, 36, to “get stuffed” and that he is “taking money off my country.”

The incident was caught on camera and was widely circulated across social media. Soon after the exchange became public, Stewart said he had made a mistake and that he had been goaded into a response.

London’s Metropolitan Police, which launched an investigation after Alwadaei made a complaint about the incident outside Lancaster House, charged Stewart with using “threatening or abusive words or behaviour or disorderly behavior and the offense was racially aggravated.”

With regard to the same incident, Stewart has also been charged with using “threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.” Police said the additional count has been added in order “to allow the court discretion on the racial element of the allegation.”

Alwadaei has said he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state following his participation in anti-government protests. He is the director of advocacy at the U.K.-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, whose self-declared mission is “to promote human rights and effective accountability in Bahrain.”

Stewart, a former British army officer best known for his command of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in Bosnia during the early 1990s, will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on July 5.

Share post:

Related

Latest

For Kuwait’s new emir, Saudi ties are seen as key

Kuwait (Reuters) - Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah was named...

Pope Francis deplores Israeli killings of civilians at Gaza church

Vatican City (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Sunday again...

Palestinians must find new path from Israeli rule after war, top official says

Ramallah (Reuters) - Immediately after Israel's war in Gaza...

Israel says it struck Hezbollah sites after attacks from Lebanon

Jerusalem/Beirut (Reuters) - Israel said on Sunday it had...