Green member behind Zionism motion named as close friend of jailed al-Qaeda supporter

Centre · 2Lubna Speitan, the Green Party member who proposed the party's conference motion on Zionism, was named in 2015 US court documents as a "close friend" of Minh Quang Pham, who was jailed for 40 years in the US for supporting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). 1 2 Centre · 2The documents said she was willing to testify for the defence, including on Pham's mental state and cognitive limitations, but that a medical condition prevented her from travelling by air or giving evidence in person. 1 2 Centre · 1The BBC reported that Speitan also wrote a 2016 letter to the New York judge calling Pham "one of the kindest, honest, most sincere" people she had known; the Jewish Chronicle first reported the letter, and the BBC has seen it. 1

Centre · 2Asked by the Telegraph whether she was still friends with Pham, Speitan reportedly said "Yes, it's still the case" and that she believed he had been "targeted" by "the system". 1 2 Centre · 2Pham, a Vietnamese-born British national, was extradited to the US in 2015 and admitted three counts based on his support for AQAP; he was sentenced to 40 years in 2016. He denied intending to carry out an attack, and no attack occurred. 1 2 Centre · 2US prosecutors said Pham was directed by Anwar al-Awlaki to detonate explosives in Heathrow's arrivals area after training in Yemen. The BBC says he was arrested at Heathrow in July 2011 with a live round of ammunition, while the Evening Standard says he was first arrested in the UK in June 2012. 1 2

Centre · 1The BBC notes there is no suggestion in the documents that Speitan knew of Pham's criminal activities when they knew each other. 1 Centre · 2A Green Party spokesperson said Speitan holds no party positions other than membership, that the party takes "all allegations of this nature seriously", and that it has internal processes to investigate members' views that do not fit its values. 2 1 Centre · 2The motion, passed at the party's Brighton conference on Sunday, makes policy that Zionism be treated like any other form of racism and backs a "single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine". 2 1

Centre · 1Israel banned Green leader Zack Polanski from entering the country, Jewish groups called the motion an "attack" on their community, and some Labour and Lib Dem MPs reported the party to the equality watchdog, according to the BBC. 1 Centre · 2Polanski, who is Jewish, abstained from the vote after leaving the conference to campaign in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election; he said he would not accept anyone being excluded "because of the religious or communal body they are part of". 2 1 Centre · 2Some Green councillors have resigned since the vote, and Phil Davies, deputy leader of the Wales Green Party, quit on Tuesday, calling the motion "the final nail in the coffin" in the BBC's account and "imperialistic" and "idiotic" in the Standard's. 1 2