by A teacher who held a placard at a pro-Palestinian protest depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts has been found not guilty of a public order offense aggravated by racism.
Marieha Hussain, 37, denied prosecution allegations that the placard was “racially offensive” and her trial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard she “clearly does not have a racist bone in her body”.
Ms Hussain denied the charge and was acquitted on Friday, prompting applause and cheers from her supporters in the public gallery.
Outside court after the hearing, Ms Hussain said: “The damage done to my reputation and image can never be undone.
“The laws on hate speech must protect us more but this trial shows that these rules are being weaponised to target ethnic minorities.
“Needless to say, this ordeal is taking a toll on my family and me.
“A few years on from the genocide in Gaza, and despite this trial, I am more determined than ever to continue using my voice to defend Palestine.”
Dismissing, district judge Vanessa Lloyd, Ms Hussain, said: “I feel it was part of the genre of political satire and, therefore, the prosecution did not prove on the criminal standard that it was offensive.
“The prosecution did not prove to the criminal standard that you knew your placard could be offensive.”
Giving evidence, Ms Hussain said the placard was a “light-hearted piece of political humor”, a way of expressing something serious in a “British satirical way”, the court heard.
In his closing speech, Rajiv Menon KC, defending, said: “The prosecution of Mr Hussain is a disturbing attack on the right to free speech; the right to peaceful protest without risk of any form of violence or public disorder; the right of anti-racists to criticize members of their own race for pursuing racist policies and using racist rhetoric; to give our politicians the right to satire; the right to mock and mock our politicians in a light hearted way Marieha Hussain tried to do with her placard.
“That Marieha Hussain of all people is being prosecuted for an offense aggravated by racism and the likes of Suella Braverman and Nigel Farage and Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – for example Tommy Robinson – and Frank Hester are free to make inflammatory and divisive statements to do … is, I. I’m afraid, incomprehensible to many people.”
Mr Menon said Ms Hussain was a woman of “remarkable character”, adding: “She is a responsible and thoughtful citizen who genuinely cares about the plight of those less fortunate, who enjoy their democratic right to exercise peaceful protest against injustice. .”
“We argue that she should not be criminalized for her satirical coconut placard,” the lawyer continued.
“It would be a tragedy – I use that word advisedly – if she were to be convicted of a racist offense when she clearly doesn’t have a racist bone in her body.”
The court heard an expert opinion on whether the term “coconut” is a racial slur.
Mr Menon said experts struggled to see how the term could be a slur without “some qualifying word, behaviour, context” that adds racism.
“There is no racial qualifier (in this case),” he said.
He questioned why the prosecution did not produce an expert who would say the term “coconut” was a racial slur and why they did not call someone who had been disturbed by Hussain’s placard to testify.
“There is, in short, a gaping hole as far as the case of the prosecution evidence against Marieha Hussain is concerned and we dare say the Crown is not even close to meeting its burden to the criminal standard,” Mr Menon said.
In a prepared statement read to the court by the prosecution, Ms Hussain, of Brands Hill Avenue, High Wycombe, said she attended the pro-Palestine protest with her family.
She said the placard was against “exceptional displays of hatred towards vulnerable or minority groups emanating from the home secretary and supported by the prime minister”.
She said in the statement: “I am surprised that it could be construed as a hate message.”
An image on the other side of the placard depicted the former home secretary as “Cruella Braverman”, Ms Hussain said in her statement.
Prosecutor Jonathan Bryan said the term “coconut” was “a well-known racial slur with a very clear meaning”.
He said: “You may be brown on the outside, but you’re white on the inside. In other words, you’re a race traitor – you’re not as brown or black as you should be.”
Mr Bryan added that Mr Hussain had “crossed the line between legitimate political expression” and moved into a “racial slur”.
Mr Menon previously said the “humorous and satirical” placard was a “pictorial attempt to criticize the policy of Rishi Sunak and, in particular, Suella Braverman and their race politics in the light of what was happening in the country at the time.”
He told the court: “What she’s saying is that Suella Braverman – then home secretary, who was sacked two days later – was in various ways promoting a racist political agenda as this is evident from Rwanda’s policy, the racist rhetoric it used around small boats.
“And the prime minister was either joking about it or being inactive. It was political criticism of these two particular politicians.”
