A teacher has been fined but has so far kept his job after being found guilty of a racial offence when he admitted posting an anti-Semitic image of Hitler on Facebook.
35-year-old Muslim father of two, Mahmud Choudhury, pleaded guilty at Bromley Magistrates’ Court to posting an photo of Hitler which had the words: “Yes man, you were right. I could have killed all the Jews, but I left some of them to let you know why I was killing them. Share this picture to tell the truth a whole world”.
Choudhury commented on the photo, writing: “Yes, now we can see why.” Magistrate Ms Muckell told him: “Obviously reading through this and the letters, you’re a well thought of person and this is going to put your standing down a lot. We know you have now given up Facebook, but social media can cause a lot of problems as you found out the hard way.”
Subhankar Banerjee, who was defending Mr Choudhury, told the court: “This is a family man of impeccable good character, who was absolutely adamant he holds no anti-Semitic or other extremist views,” adding that his client took full responsibility for what happened and it is now possible he may lose his job because of it.
However Jonathan Sacerdoti, director of communications at the Campaign Against Anti-semitism, said: “Teachers have a special responsibility in our society and shape the minds of our children. Mahmudul Choudhury cannot plead ignorance and has been spared any meaningful punishment for spreading a hateful message which helps create the climate in which Jews are currently being killed across Europe.
“We commend the police and CPS for pursuing this case with zero tolerance, but unreservedly condemn this inexplicably lenient sentence and now expect an investigation into how someone who spread Jew hatred online came to be teaching London’s children.”
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