Tasnime Akunjee
 Tasnime Akunjee      (lawyer, politician) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 1977 |
Mohammed Tasnime Akunjee is a criminal defence solicitor working in the field of Terrorism-related offending who represented the Begum family in the controversial case of their daughter Shamima Begum, a Bethnal Green schoolgirl who travelled to Syria to support the Islamic State group.[1]
Tasnime Akunjee also led a defamation case against Tommy Robinson, leader of the English Defence League, who was ordered to pay £100,000 in damages after wrongly accusing Jamal Hijazi, a Syrian refugee aged 16, of “violently attacking young English girls”.
Contents
Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
In January 2024, Tasnime Akunjee announced that he would be standing as an independent candidate in the new Bethnal Green and Stepney constituency.[2] He cited current Labour MP Rushanara Ali's refusal to support a ceasefire in Gaza, during a vote in Parliament last year, as one of the reasons he was running.
Betrayal by Rushanara Ali
He appeared to compare his campaign to that of George Galloway, who unseated Oona King in the constituency in 2005 when he ran a crusade against the 2003 Iraq war. In a video announcing his candidacy, Tasnime Akunjee said:
- "Rushanara's recent actions seem driven more by Labour Party policy than the will of the people she represents, and this speaks volumes.
- "Take, for instance, her refusal to vote for a ceasefire despite the overwhelming pro-Palestinian sentiment in Bethnal Green and Stepney.
- "Fifty-six other Labour MPs went against Keir Starmer's orders, some even risking their senior shadow government roles.
- "But Rushanara remained silent. Her silence was a betrayal of your humanitarian sentiment and the people of Bethnal Green and Stepney are rightly angry.
- "Some of you may remember that we have this kind of betrayal before, when we voted out Labour's Oona King 20 years ago."[3]
Boundary changes
The boundary of the current constituency – Bethnal Green and Bow – is being re-drawn at the next General Election into two new constituencies:
- Bethnal Green and Stepney, and
- Stratford and Bow.[4]
