Justice minister ‘terrified' by actions of pro-Palestinian activists, court told

Powys County Times

2 days ago

A Government minister has told a court she was 'terrified' after being confronted by two pro-Palestinian activists while campaigning in the lead-up to the general election.
Alex Davies-Jones, the Labour MP for Pontypridd, gave evidence at Cardiff Magistrates' Court on Monday in the trial of Ayeshah Behit, 31, and Hiba Ahmed, 26, who deny harassment.
The court heard how Ms Davies-Jones, a justice minister, had arrived in the village of Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf, on the afternoon of June 26 last year.
As she made her way to the campaign meeting place, she saw Behit and Ahmed with leaflets describing her as a 'full-blown supporter of this genocide' – referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Ms Davies-Jones told the court: 'I was asked a number of questions around the conflict in Israel and Palestine, and my conduct as an MP, if I had taken part in votes, membership of organisations such as Labour Friends of Israel.
'They asked me about the ceasefire and why I had abstained. I clarified I hadn't abstained, I wasn't in the country, I was paired in that vote.
'It was escalating in terms of passion and intensity. We walked off in the opposite direction. We felt scared and intimidated, and we wanted to leave the situation.
'I had a number of young members with me. They already felt uncomfortable, I didn't want them to feel more at risk.
'They began to follow us. They were shouting and bellowing down the street at us – 'why do you support genocide, why are you murdering babies, Alex Davies-Jones, do you support genocide?''
Ms Davies-Jones said her group walked into the University of South Wales campus, then continued their campaigning but saw Behit and Ahmed about 20 minutes later.
She described how Labour volunteers were knocking on doors and talking to constituents, followed by the two defendants handing out leaflets and claiming she 'supported genocide and murdering babies'.
The team decided to finish early but discovered one of their vehicles had been 'covered with stickers and leaflets', Ms Davies-Jones said.
Later that day, Behit and Ahmed put posters on the Labour office – the base of Ms Davies-Jones' campaign for the general election – in Pontypridd that referred to politicians 'enabling genocide'.
They also placed stickers in black capital letters reading 'Alex Davies-Jones how many murdered children is too many?' on the office, and a poster reading 'Alex Davies-Jones supports genocide' on a bus stop.
When asked about how their actions made her feel, Ms Davies-Jones told the court: 'I was terrified.
'I was worried because of the risk to my team and supporters, and my reputation given it was the general election and what that would mean.
'I was scared about what things they were going to do and what they were doing.'
A video of the confrontation was then uploaded onto social media, with the caption describing Ms Davies-Jones as racist.
She added: 'The abuse was endless. It was awful. It was relentless. I felt under attack. The video was clipped and manipulated in a way that made it seem I had lied.'
Ms Davies-Jones said that as a result of the incident, she reduced campaigning sessions and had to be accompanied by close protection officers.
The politician, who was first elected as MP for Pontypridd in 2019, described the murders of fellow MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess as 'devastating'.
'They have an impact on all of us,' Ms Davies-Jones said.
'They have changed our lives fundamentally in how we live and work.'
Giving evidence, Ahmed said she and Behit lived in Treforest and had wanted to raise awareness of Ms Davies-Jones' actions on Palestine ahead of the election.
She said the defendants, both of Treforest, had planned to hand out and post leaflets that afternoon when they saw their MP coming towards them.
Ahmed said: 'I was genuinely really surprised when I saw her. I've lived in Treforest for a couple of years, I've never seen her.
'It was like seeing a celebrity almost, like a unicorn in the wild.
'I took the video because I thought nobody would believe me. It was a surprise when she approached us and said hi and she was willing to have a conversation.
'It felt like a really normal conversation between people who don't agree on something.
'Have you ever seen MPs talk to each other in the House of Commons? They can be quite brutal to each other.'
Ahmed said it was her first time leafleting, having previously emailed Ms Davies-Jones and taken part in peaceful protest.
'This wasn't really about her, it was about Palestine,' she said.
Behit told the court: 'She was running for MP and where I lived there were posters everywhere. It was constant, everywhere you looked was pro-Alex.
'My intention was to show a different perspective, to get people to do their own research. It was never about Alex as a person.
'Part of her job as an MP is having people look at her policies, her opinions and how she voted.'
Both defendants deny that their actions amounted to harassment.