Chef EHSAN HUSSAIN Jailed For Racism Against Muslims - What The Strangest Southport Riot Conviction Says About Fighting For The Country, Justice, And Reporting

Hi and welcome to this JK B'HAM Op-Ed - Report for VPN: REGIONAL NETWORKS:

A Pakistani man from Birmingham has been jailed for 28 months for a series of online messages inciting racial hatred - against Pakistanis.

Posting in the 'Southport Wake Up' group on Telegram under a pseudonym, chef Ehsan Hussain pretended to share the aims and “extreme right-wing and racist views” of the group.

The court heard how Hussain had intended to lure anti-Muslim protesters into specific, predominantly Asian suburbs of Birmingham where they would be confronted by a large contingent of Asian youths looking for a fight.

While members of the so-called 'Muslim Defence League' did turn out in large numbers that evening, no supposed followers of the disbanded English Defence League were there to meet them, - seemingly making the undercover mole mission of the man who went in disguise as 'Chris Nolan' a failure.

Intended to encourage violence, messages posted in the wake of the Southport stabbings by the jailed takeaway chef and would-be agent provocateur included "It's all about the kids, we're doing this for the kids," "we need to take back what's ours", and, using a racial slur against Pakistani people, "get these p*** scums out."

He reported to a friend that people in the group seemed quite stupid.

Hussain's own barrister said that his client was not a very sophisticated criminal, holding on to the phone he used to commit his crimes - which Judge Melbourne Inman KC ruled will not be returned to Hussain.

Final Words

Summing up, and justifying the custodial sentence handed down for these online messages, Judge Melbourne Inman KC said: "it’s clear you intended to incite others to attend areas of the city and intending they would be met with violence themselves."

This curious case, where online posts potentially seen by 4.5k people saw a hard-working family man jailed for over two years, provides a testing ground to examine the inner logic of the law, and a valuable test-case.

In the current context, where notions of two-tier justice are a hot issue and a major talking point for right-leaning voices on social media, there is increasing evidence that some debates are not as well informed as they need to be to work towards the real-world change that participants desire.

What Are Reporters For?

Alongside all at VPN, we firmly believe that every citizen has a right to have their say and hold public institutions to account. We support 'people power', ordinary citizens' rights to raise their concerns and be listened to.

But crucially, concerned citizens must seek out reliable partners to become empowered with relevant knowledge of the systems they wish to influence, - which in this case first requires basic understanding of the realities of sentencing under UK law. Armed in this way, they can effectively appraise and identify areas where they do wish to push for political change.

Democratic Engagement

Online discussions on this topic do not always highlight the actual realities of how sentencing works, and this straying away from informed, fact-based realities, far from being a harmless way of including more people into the discussion, is a real risk for democracy. It has the potential to keep concerned citizens who could make important contributions to public debate engaged instead in futile exercises, creating talking points without the crucial bedding in real-world realities which would allow their concerns over politics, law and order to at least have the potential to grow into something far more difficult for opponents to ever choose to ignore.

Taking the view that removing any weaker talking points of those with right-leaning sympathies will serve to bolstering their stronger talking points, I will weigh up the widespread claims that the justice system seeks to punish harshly White offenders who criticise Islam while sparing punishment for Muslims.

"UK Justice Is Designed To Punish White People In A Biased, Two-Tier Manner"

According to this claim, the legal system is institutionally biased against white people with concerns about Islam, and our justice system is wide open to political influence without any consistent principles, handing out whatever sentences are convenient to those in political power.

This may be true to some degree, and telling evidence may be found to support various key aspects of this claim. There is a legitimacy in asking questions, and posting cases to raise awareness and encourage discussion.

But in the online realm, while headlines and cases are usually offered to justify this viewpoint, there is rarely, if ever, a comprehensive, logically proposed, factual argument made to argue that the claim is true to the extent that many swear it is.

In this instance once these hastily-made, persistently-repeated claims are given scrutiny, the broad facts regarding these sweeping 'two-tier bias' claims reveal a different story.

Rioting - Not New, And Always Very Illegal

As we saw in our recent article, the initial claim that long sentences are being handed out to rioters 'because they are white' fell apart when we looked at the sentencing for the 2011 riots. They saw people who took even low-value items from shops received lengthy prison sentences.

The key factor is that these individuals were given heavy sentences not due to their identity but due to the circumstances and context of their offences. This cuts both ways:

"Aggravating Circumstances"- Realities Exposed

For comparison, here are a few revealing examples of sentences for individuals convicted of inciting racial hatred via social media, from before the riots in 2024:

1) A 38-year-old from Dorset, Jay Davison, received a 16-week suspended sentence for posting a series of hate-filled messages on social media that targeted Muslims and people of color. His case involved multiple posts on Facebook, where he expressed hateful and threatening language toward minority groups.

2. Leaders of the far-right group Britain First, Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen, were both sentenced to jail for inciting racial hatred. Their offenses included posting anti-Muslim videos and messages on social media, stirring racial tensions. Fransen was sentenced to 36 weeks, and Golding to 18 weeks.

3. A 16-year-old was sentenced to a youth detention term for inciting racial hatred through racist, anti-Semitic, and Islamophobic remarks on platforms like Twitter. His posts included threats of violence and discriminatory content, which led to a six-month sentence in a youth detention facility.

While these cases show how that the courts deal with social media posts inciting racial hatred seriously, with sentences ranging from suspended prison terms to actual incarceration, this was nowhere near the 2+ year sentence handed out to Hussain, or others who sought to cause unrest during the recent period.

The reason these sentences are not similar to recent rioter sentences is not due to any recent political dictat or special laws, which some commentators imagine that Keir Starmer or his Labour government have brought in, but sentencing instead follows a well established and transparent process, where **aggravating or mitigating factors** may lead to vasty different sentencing for the same criminal offence.

We can see how Judge Melbourne Inman was guided by aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing Hussain:

“It is a serious aggravating factor that the timing of this was at the time of a very sensitive social climate.”

Hussain had used “vile racist language under the pretence of sharing such views and encouraging others to come to Alum Rock for violence, where they would themselves be met with violence”.

The judge continues:

“Sadly, this is one of a number of cases this court has had to deal with arising from the civil unrest following the tragic events in Southport.

“Some people used that tragedy as an opportunity to sow division and hatred, often using social media, which led to a number of towns and cities up and down the country being disfigured by mindless and racist violence, intimidation and damage."

In the post-Southport climate, there was a very real potential for far greater disorder than did actually occur, providing the aggravating circumstances which led to harsher sentences for words inciting racial hatred than in the three examples above, not committed in a period of heightened national tension.

These words sum up the real driving factor behind these sentences being so heavy: any whiff of anything related to rioting has always been dealt with extremely seriously under English law.

If, in the 10+ years since the 2011 riots, the public has forgotten this fact, we cannot accuse the law of straying and losing touch with the people, but we can ask how the public has lost touch with the law? = and consider, how to rectify this pressing situation?

Media undoubtedly plays a role, which is why we say that old-fashioned journalists adhereing to professional principles are surely needed more than ever.

Media's Role: Misinformation Or Information?

A properly informed public, whose news media, whether traditional or alternative media, is giving them the unfiltered truth, would be aware that people of all races and religions, on all sides of the political spectrum, are being sought out zealously and punished severely by authorities for participating in the disorder following the Southport stabbings.

How Muslim Rioters Being Locked Up Exposes The Interconnected Nature Of Justice:

A widely-circulating meme it that 'good family men' are being given serious prison sentences for minor acts during the disorder, and that this isn't right.

Once again, this not only misrepresents the law, but little thought is given to the consequences of changing the law by those suggesting that the status quo of our current laws is not fit for purpose - consequences highlighted by the case of Haris Ghaffar, sentenced to 20 months for violent disorder in Birmingham.

The particular actions which Ghaffar engaged in, as mentioned in court, were kicking a pub door which was not ever broken down (and being the first person of a group to kick the door) and then being present when a man in his 50's was assaulted by a group.

When presented in this way, with relevant context removed - as modern social media formats encourage and reward, whether deliberately or accidentally - the punishement may seem harsh.

Violent Disorder Explained

This impression indicates a public that does not always look at how these cases are judged.

Without context, a sentence for violent disorder may seem disproportionate to the specific acts committed but **violent disorder** encompasses more than individual actions—it considers the overall situation, threat, and involvement.

In Ghaffar's case, the situation was far more serious than a single act of kicking. He was part of a larger group of protesters, some armed with knives, who surrounded the Clumsy Swan pub.

The court considered that Ghaffar and the mob created a significant threat by attempting to storm the pub, which they mistakenly believed contained members of a far-right group. The presence of balaclavas, knives, and the large number of participants added to the danger, escalating the charges. CCTV footage also revealed physical assaults on a drinker outside the pub, alongside attempts to force entry into the building. In such contexts, violent disorder convictions cover not just the physical damage caused but the intention to incite fear, escalate violence, or cause harm.

Remove Context, Remove Understanding: Perils Of Social Media

The law, as it stands, holds Ghaffar responsible for the wider scene he contributed to. A whole roundabout was taken over, ambulances had to be diverted, and while there was not major injury or damage caused, he was part of creating a situation where major damage or injury could have been caused.

Anyone eager to not see a repeat of the Bordesley Green disorder would have a reason to back the judicial system in its present form; if 'kicking a door' as part of a violent mob could not get you 20 months in jail, what deterrent would there be to people who may not particularly like you forming armed, violent, mobs on your doorstep?

Lenient punishement for some involved in violent disorder would invetably lead to lenient punishment for all; if being part of a violent mob is punished less harshly, we will have to accept more violent mobs.

It is not that current laws cannot, or should not be changed, it is just that concerned citizens need to offer realistic proposals without problematic contradictions if they do not wish to be ignored.

Restoring Context To Restore Understanding

Another issue which needs to be cleared up regards impartiality. It is still claimed that somehow there is a hidden reality where Violent Disorder laws are being weaponised against a particular group of white people with right wing views.

Again, a comparison with 2011 challenges this claim.

Regarding race, all evidence points to the conclusion that the reason that so many black people were jailed for rioting offences in 2011 was not anti-black racism in the police or judicial system but instead because so many of the roiters were black. Similarly the reason that so many white people were jailed for riot-related offences in late July and early August 2024 was because so thah conversely, so many of the people rioting were white, not Black or Asian.

And in 2024, rioters who were Asian are being jailed, such as Ghaffar.

New Directions For The Battle Against Unfair Rules

Crucially, valid criticisms of aspects of policing or judicial decisions lose their effectiveness when placed alongside arguments which are not valid and are easily disproven.

Two-tier criticisms can be levelled at the pro-Palestine protests which have taken place for months in London and other parts of the UK. While they generally met the definition of non-violent, they were frequently felt to be, on occasion, menacing, hostile and anti-semitic.

Pipe Dreams Versus Workable Ideas

While it can be debated whether or not they crossed a line, there is little point in anyone calling those who engaged in recent violent disorder 'political prisoners', - except of course for those voices who presumably want the UK police, justice and political systems to step aside, leaving the 'Muslim Defense League' to a street battle with the 'English Defense League' for control of the country, thus disregarding all English and British democracy and taking the country back several centuries, in some fantasy of and sorting out political conflicts in the manner of a modern-day football match.

By staying within the boundaries of informed discussion, not in an effort to exclude, but in an effort to include those who may be at risk of becoming fringe figures. Those who are open to making evidence based discussions of the legal system are then empowered to make their criticisms more solid allowing their calls for change to have far greater reach.

Strengthening The Case : Brutal Justice and Remaining Within Reason

Accepting one argument - that people of good character shouldn't be jailed for attending a riot and harassing police could mean we would not have a law to deter anti-white mobs.

The consistent sentencing of both white and non-white offenders in these types of cases reflects that the judiciary treats violent disorder as a public safety issue, regardless of race. This challenges narratives suggesting racial bias in sentencing.

Regarding mitigating factors, the many members of the community who depend on Ehsan Hussain and will suffer from his incarceration did not save him from serving a lengthy sentence, nor did his remorse:

In court, his barrister argued:

'He has a number of positive references which demonstrate his true character. They allude to his charity work and they demonstrate someone who is loyal, hardworking, responsible and a vital part of the family-run takeaway business.

'He accepts completely that what he did was ridiculous to say the least and he is not proud of himself.'

Despite the climate of fear, as the Yardley man felt he and his family could be facing imminent attack from outsiders to his local area, he was not given a warning by the court, but was held responsible for his actions and punished accordingly - regardless of his online efforts apparently being ineffective in instigating a far-right protest:

“You were no doubt not alone in fuelling the hatred and unrest, but your actions played their part in the resulting violence and disorder hours later.”

While the case can be made that in some instances, those who posted online could be given a warning and potentially a court order banning them from social media for a period, without the threat of harsher penalties, the law would lose its deterrent effect. The question would then be, is it the sentencing which people oppose, or the laws themselves? Because all laws cut both ways; Hussain will serve 50% of his 28-month sentence in custody and the rest on licence,

During the Bordesley Green disorder, a pub was damaged by 'MDL' youths, but no mosques were attacked.

Taking Back The Agenda

Despite the nightmare ordeal, Yardley pub goers returned the next day, undeterred, and with no fear of a repeat of the disorder. They were met with members of the Muslim community who apologised for the shameful actions of the younger men, several of whom are going through the courts, others still wanted by police.

While in many regards, a true examination of the facts builds up to a picture of 'business as usual' with no hidden establishment corruption or anti-white bias in our institutions, this would completely misunderstand the situation.

A Vital Mission

The number of people like Hussain and Ghaffar is a damning indictment of the rhetoric of people such as Sadiq Khan who constantly repeat that diversity is what makes us great, disregarding history and ignoring very obvious problems, including the horror, bloodshed and tragedy of escalating knife crime in London and Birmingham. These voices persistently claim that the only challenge to peaceful co-existence is racism from white people - whereas we have also seen that there is clearly an audience for threatening, racist 'Muslim supremacy' content online - an issue which is not widely reflected in the mainstream media.

And once again, on a street level, the weapons known to have been carried by these men were not guns - known on the streets to be highly illegal and punished with severe penalties - but often knives or small swords, reflective of what they believed they could get away with.

There are questions to be asked, and battles to be fought, by all those wanting a safe society which is recognisably British, where all aspire to contribute and thrive in a law-abiding manner, practicing the virtues and accessing the freedoms which Britain is famed for.

My plea is not to side with any existing establishment reluctant to change, and, for example pledging allegiance to what some see as a compromised conservative party.

In fact, we can entirely put to bed any idea of a political class and establishment who are always trying to create the best for us.

But acknowledging the nature of the beast and exposing how decision-makers are, in the vast majority of, cases ruled by logic and evidence, we find where the real potential change lies: not in rabble-rousing and sounding off half-truths to a soundtrack of resentment, but by presenting the cases which no-one else has any motive to present, but whose claim and logic are undeniably truth.

Well, that’s all for now. But until our next article, please stay tuned, stay informed, but most of all stay safe, and I’ll see you then.

Jason King

Birmingham City-Desk

Twitter (X) @JasonKingNews

Jasonkingnews@gmail.com