An NHS midwife who praised the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel is suing the hospital where she worked for referring her to Prevent.

Fatimah Mohamied retweeted a post on X which said Palestinians have a “right to resist” occupation, writing above the post “, hell yeah”.

She also said: “Would you take abuse lying down, for years and years and years? If you never retaliated, never resisted, would you respect yourself?”

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust referred her to the Prevent anti-radicalisation programme and the Nursing and Midwifery Council regulator, a year after she had resigned from her employment and following a complaint about her online activity from UK Lawyers for Israel.

The mother of two, who lives in London, alleges that the referrals breached her rights under the Equality Act 2010 and constituted post-employment harassment and/or discrimination, according to the law firm Leigh Day.

‘A campaign of harassment’

She said: “I have been subjected to a concerted and targeted effort to intimidate, harass and punish me into silence for my Palestinian advocacy and criticism of Zionism.

“I am taking legal action against my former employer to finally seek accountability for a campaign of harassment against me in the midst of a live genocide perpetrated by the Israeli state – I will not accept the attempts to silence me and those like me.

“Healthcare workers in the NHS have the right to critique a colonial political ideology that has upheld an illegal occupation for decades and is responsible for violating universal values of health.”

On Oct 8 2023, a complaint was lodged about Ms Mohamied’s social media posts in which she voiced her support for Palestinian people and her opposition to Zionism in the wake of the Hamas attacks in Israel, Leigh Day said.

Refusal to delete posts

Her line manager asked her to consider deleting the posts or her account, but she refused to do so.

Three further complaints were made about the midwife’s social media posts and on Dec 20 2023, the trust received a letter from UK Lawyers for Israel accusing Ms Mohamied of expressing support for Hamas.

In early January the following year, the trust’s director of maternity told Ms Mohamied that if they received “more emails or letters of concern”, her actions could be considered misconduct.

Ms Mohamied, who was a cultural safety lead midwife and had worked at the trust since June 2019, resigned in March last year.

In March this year, the trust received a second letter from UK Lawyers for Israel, which launched further complaints about further social media posts and accused Ms Mohamied of anti-Semitism, bullying and harassment and of stirring up racial hatred against Jews and Israelis.

Towards the end of the month, the trust referred Ms Mohamied to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and then to the Metropolitan Police under Prevent over her online activity.

‘Entirely disproportionate response’

Both referrals were dismissed, and Leigh Day said in a letter to the trust that the regulator and police each assessed Ms Mohamied’s posts “amounted to lawful expression of her beliefs and did not present cause for concern”.

Liana Wood, partner at the law firm, said: “We say the trust’s referrals against Fatimah, made a year after she had stopped working for them, were an entirely disproportionate response to her lawful expressions of belief on her personal blog and social media accounts.

“Fatimah’s case, which has parallels with other cases we have seen recently in the NHS, highlights the need for employers to resist pressure from lobby groups in such cases, and to carefully consider any potential infringement on an individual’s rights before taking action against them.”

The hospital trust has been contacted for comment.