About the Claimant

In October 2010, a leaflet was circulated in Tower Hamlets which advertised a rally which was supposedly being called to discuss certain allegations about Labour’s official candidate, the then Cllr Helal Abbas.  The leaflet was printed in London Bangla – as a paid advertisement.  Neither Cllr Abbas nor the Labour Party took any action or made any comment (e.g., refuting the allegations) about the leaflet at the time.  Cllr Abbas went on to lose the election.  Two months later he made a formal complaint to the police asking them to investigate the publication of the leaflet in London Bangla.  This led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charging me with two offences under electoral law (charges which were later dropped) and to the then Cllr Abbas taking out a civil action, for libel, against me.  A summary of what happened in these cases can be found in my press statement:

[CLICK HERE TO SEE THE PRESS STATEMENT]

 

On this page, I provide some background information about the Claimant, Helal Abbas (formerly known as Abbas Uddin).

 

 

Abbas speech at count

This is Cllr Helal Abbas’s speech at the count of votes in the first mayoral election (October 2010), given after it was announced that he had lost the election.  He read the speech at the count, and it was later released by the Labour Party.  I believe this indicates that Cllr Abbas had very strong, set views against the then Cllr Mayor Lutfur Rahman.

[CLICK HERE TO SEE ABBAS’S SPEECH AT THE COUNT]

 

Helal Abbas formal complaint to police

This is Cllr Helal Abbas’s formal complaint to the police, dated 14th January 2011.  The formal complaint is a rather rambling and disjointed document.  He complains about two leaflets circulated locally and an email and a text circulated to local members. He refers to one of the leaflets having been printed in London Bangla.  I believe that the then Cllr Abbas was making a number of complaints which were primarily against the then Mayor Lutfur Rahman – and, as London Bangla was mentioned in this complaint, the newspaper (and I, as its then editor) were caught in the fallout from a general campaign against Mayor Rahman.

Those who have followed the Labour Party’s campaign against Mayor Rahman will be interested to note that in this statement the then Cllr Abbas claims credit for Lutfur Rahman being removed as the Labour Party’s candidate for mayor (stating that the reason Labour’s National Executive removed him was Cllr Abbas’s formal complaint).  He states that his relationship with Lutfur Rahman had begun to deteriorate three to four years earlier – which would have been 2007-08 and the grounds for his formal complaint were, in the main, a belief that Lutfur Rahman was unduly influenced by extremist groups.  Cllr Abbas had not raised this belief with the Labour Party when Lutfur Rahman was selected as Cllr Abbas’s fellow Labour candidate for a Council seat in Spitalfields & Banglatown ward in May 2010, or when Lutfur Rahman was shortlisted for Labour’s mayoral candidate.  Lutfur Rahman’s alleged links with extreme Islamist organisations was raised after the mayoral election of May 2014 by those who took a petition to the Election Court.  The judge said (paras 185-86):

“Throughout Mr Rahman’s political career, his political enemies have, from time to time, attempted to suggest that he has links with extreme Islamist organisations and is happy to solicitor their votes. As will be seen, this, too played a part in Mr Rahman’s deselection in 2010.

“It should therefore be stressed that this court has not heard a shred of credible evidence linking Mr Rahman with any extreme or fundamentalist movement, something he himself has always denied. Such suggested links have played no part in this case and form no part of the court’s findings. Accordingly, the only permissible approach is that Mr Rahman is not associated with extreme radical Islam and neither openly nor covertly seeks its support.”

[PLEASE SEE HELAL ABBAS’S FORMAL COMPLAINT TO THE POLICE]

 

Cllr Marc Francis resignation

This is the text of an email Cllr Marc Francis sent to the then Cllr Helal Abbas in December 2010.  Cllr Francis also seems to believe that Cllr Abbas is mounting a personal campaign against Mayor Rahman.  The text of this email was published locally at the time and, to the best of my knowledge, Cllr Abbas did not take any legal action about it at the time.

[PLEASE SEE CLLR MARC FRANCIS’S RESIGNATION]

 

Standards Appeal Decision

The then Cllr Helal Abbas was determined to make his case against Mayor Lutfur Rahman.   When he was making his complaint to the Labour Party (which led to Cllr Rahman being removed as the candidate), he disclosed information about a Council officer – in breach of the Council’s Code of Conduct.  The Standards Committee found he was in breach of the Code of Conduct and censured him for this and suspended him from office for one week and ordered that he make a written apology. The finding and sanctions were upheld on appeal.

[PLEASE SEE STANDARDS APPEAL DECISION]

 

Helal Abbas has not taken legal action in the past against a local newspaper which has carried allegations about him on previous occasions.

 

Dead voters

On 21st April 2005, the East London Advertiser carried a news article about Cllr Abbas, then Leader of the Council, under the headline “Council leader quizzed on dead voters fraud”.

Alleged physical threats

On 7th March 2002, the East London Advertiser carried a news article about Cllr Abbas, then Leader of the Council, under the headline “Probe into alleged physical threat by Council leader”.

[PLEASE SEE ELA ARTICLE ON ALLEGED PHYSICAL THREATS]