Palestine Activists Convicted of Harassment After Questioning MP

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Two pro-Palestine activists in South Wales convicted of harassment after attempting to hold their local MP to account on Gaza warn their case sets a dangerous precedent. 

Ayeshah Behit, 31, and Hiba Ahmed, 26, were found guilty of harassment on 2 June after sharing a 20-second clip of a conversation with Labour minister Alex Davies-Jones on Instagram. They describe being subjected to violent and PTSD-inducing police raids and “silenced” as part of their bail conditions. Both Behit and Ahmed received a conditional discharge and fine. 

Behit told Novara Media: “MPs manufacture consent for genocide and we can’t even speak out. We’re just two working-class people from the Valleys – we paid out of our own pockets to print leaflets. We do not have money and we got absolutely destroyed.” 

Ahmed said: “It’s really frightening that in future cases, they can cite our case. Leaflets naming MPs or people in power are common, basic parts of everyday activism. They’ll be arresting the entire movement if they use our case as a precedent.”

Behit and Ahmed leafleted their neighbourhood and put up vinyl stickers ahead of the 2024 general election to draw attention to Pontypridd MP Alex Davies-Jones’ poor record on the issue of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. The stickers read “Labour = new Tory”, “no ceasefire, no vote” and “Alex Davies-Jones, how many murdered children are too many?”. 

Davies-Jones is a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and she did not vote on the SNP motion for a ceasefire in November 2023. Davies-Jones received £2,300 for a trip to Israel earlier the same year. 

“A lot of people we spoke to beforehand had said that they were voting Labour because they wanted a socialist government – but they were also pro-Palestine and they didn’t know that by voting Alex Davies-Jones, they were getting a Zionist MP,” Behit said. 

On 26 June 2024, Behit and Ahmed ran into Davies-Jones canvassing with team members  just a few minutes away from their home.

In a five-minute video of Behit and Ahmed’s conversation with Alex Davies-Jones seen by Novara Media, it’s clear that Davies-Jones approached the two activists, not the other way around – contrary to the BBC’s reporting. The conversation is robust with both Behit and Ahmed challenging Davies-Jones’ record on Gaza. Davies-Jones says they can “respectfully disagree” before walking away with four accompanying Labour canvassers.

In court, Davies-Jones described Behit and Ahmed’s actions as leaving her feeling “terrified” and needing to reduce campaigning and be accompanied by close protection officers.

Sentencing judge Paul Goldspring called the leafleting, stickering and conversation “a deliberate and sustained campaign targeting the complainant” that was “designed to cause alarm and distress” and stopped Davies-Jones canvassing. Behit and Ahmed say this is incorrect as they saw Davies-Jones continuing her canvas later the same day from a distance.  

Behit posted a 20-second Instagram video of her encounter with Davies-Jones on 29 June, highlighting the discrepancy between Davies-Jones’ insistence that she didn’t choose not to vote on a ceasefire – and voting records available online. Two hours later a dozen South Wales Police officers came to her home in what Behit describes as a traumatic “swarming”.  

“I was fully home alone, totally vulnerable.” Behit describes it as “fucking terrifying”, saying the police didn’t just knock – it was like the sound of a battering ram on the front door. “They said they were going to break the door in so I unlocked the door, and they barged in and started pushing me.”

Behit wasn’t wearing underwear, having just got undressed for the day. She says the police told her they had to watch her put a bra on. “I didn’t want to take my top off in front of them. They said, ‘we’re not looking at you’ – but they were. I was trying to shut the bathroom door, and they were kicking it open and pushing in and staring directly at me. 

“Then I said, I’ve got to make a phone call. And one of the male cops shouted, ‘she’s resisting arrest’ – then jumped me. They had my arms above my head against the bathroom wall, and I was trying not to let go of my phone, and they grabbed it so hard they broke my phone case, and it was two or three cops, holding me against the wall.” 

Behit says officers handled her so roughly they bruised her arms. She describes having her hands cuffed behind her back and being dragged through her home while officers “threw my stuff around”. Behit was told she was under arrest for posting “a very intimidating video on Instagram”. She estimates that “15 or 16 cops” took part in the operation with “a giant Territorial Support van and two police cars outside”. 

“I remember being just really, really uncomfortable because I was cuffed behind my back and didn’t have a bra on, which just makes me, personally, really uncomfortable. I think I was on my period, I was feeling just horrible. One of the cops said ‘let’s make these more comfortable for you’ and then kind of loosened my cuffs – and then did them so tight, cutting into my flesh. It was like a cruel joke.”

Behit says she was told she was being arrested “incommunicado” and an officer said “it means no one’s going to know where you are”. She says: “It was a glorified kidnapping. I have really vivid, graphic dreams all the time about my home being invaded, or cops forcing me to do things.”

South Wales Police declined to comment, as it has not received an official complaint. 

“All through winter, I wouldn’t go to bed – I’d just sleep in the living room because I kept thinking, I’ll be able to see them if they come to the door,” Behit said. “I now cope with PTSD every day due to the violence I experienced at the hands of many male police officers.”

Alex Davies-Jones positions herself as a parliamentary champion of women and girls. Currently parliamentary under-secretary of state for victims, she served as shadow minister for domestic violence and safeguarding from November 2023 to July 2024.

Both Ahmed and Behit said they were banned from speaking publicly about their experiences as part of their bail conditions and from contacting Davies-Jones as their local MP. After contacting her Senedd member to disclose what had happened in December – a breach of bail conditions – Behit’s home was raided again “within 10 hours”. “We’ve been gagged,” she says. 

Behit and Ahmed appeared in court in October 2024, accused of shouting at Davies-Jones in the street about Gaza and causing criminal damage to her office. They were found guilty of harassment while the criminal damage charge was dropped. Davies-Jones falsely alleged in an Instagram post last week that Behit and Ahmed were convicted of criminal damage. 

Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, told Novara Meda: “This judgement will have a chilling effect on the democratic process. MPs should expect to be scrutinised for their policies and actions.

“With Israel on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice and widely recognised as committing crimes against humanity and war crimes, it is hardly surprising that a pro-Israel MP faced criticism from voters who believe that human rights and international law should be respected. The British courts should not be trying to shield MPs from legitimate accountability to the public.”

Behit and Ahmed intend to appeal their convictions. Alex Davies-Jones has been approached for comment.