The Green Party member who authored a controversial party motion declaring Zionism to be racism has been identified in court documents as a close friend of Minh Quang Pham, a convicted al-Qaeda supporter who plotted a suicide bombing at Heathrow Airport.
Lubna Speitan, a British-Palestinian artist, proposed the motion defining Zionism as an ideology supporting an ethnonationalist Jewish state. The text was passed on Sunday to become official Green Party policy, calling for a single democratic Palestinian state across all of historic Palestine, including modern-day Israel.
Court Documents Reveal Ties to Jailed al-Qaeda Supporter Minh Quang Pham
While the political fallout from the conference vote widened across Great Britain, court filings from 2015 revealed that Speitan previously agreed to serve as a defense witness for Minh Quang Pham. Pham, a Vietnamese-born British national who lived in London after his family was granted asylum in 1989, was arrested at Heathrow Airport in July 2011 after spending seven months in Yemen. UK authorities initially discovered armor-piercing ammunition in his luggage. Later raids on his home showed he had watched training videos made by Anwar al-Awlaki.
Extradited to the US in 2015, Pham pleaded guilty in January 2016 to supporting al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and helping produce their propaganda magazine, Inspire. US prosecutors stated he was directed by Anwar al-Awlaki to detonate explosives in Heathrow’s arrivals area in an attack that could have killed hundreds of travelers returning from Israel and the US. District Judge Alison Nathan sentenced him to 40 years in prison, finding that he intended to commit a horrific suicide bombing
and deserved an exceptionally severe sentence.
In the 2015 US court documents, Speitan was listed as a close friend who would provide critical testimony regarding Pham’s mental state to support a mental health defense. Although a medical condition prevented her from traveling to New York to testify in person, she later wrote a letter to the judge praising his character.
“He turned out to be one of the kindest, honest, most sincere, trustworthy and respectful people I have ever known.”
Lubna Speitan
Speitan added in her letter that if the judge truly knew the man she and others respected, they might have probably had the whole case dismissed
. When approached by the media regarding whether they remained in contact, she confirmed that their relationship has not changed since his conviction, maintaining that he was targeted by a system that has much to answer for regarding systemic racism and anti-Muslim hate.
Political Fallout and International Repercussions for the Green Party
The party motion itself sparked immediate condemnation from Jewish groups, who labeled it an attack on their community. Several Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs formally reported the party to Great Britain’s equality watchdog. In response to the policy adoption, Israel barred Green leader Zack Polanski from entering the country, with Israel’s foreign minister describing it as a stain on the history of the United Kingdom.
Phil Davies, the Green Party’s deputy leader in Wales, resigned and canceled his membership, calling the motion the final nail in the coffin. Multiple Green councillors also stepped down, and the leader of the Jewish Greens threatened to leave, dismissing the vote as unhelpful.
Polanski, who is Jewish and controversially abstained from the vote, released a lengthy statement on Monday night insisting he would not accept anyone being excluded from the party based on their religious or communal body. He emphasized that antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct.
Green Party Investigates Speitan over Personal Associations
The Green Party addressed the disclosures regarding Speitan by confirming her membership status while distancing itself from her personal associations and prior statements. A party spokesperson stated that Speitan holds no official positions within the organization.
“Where members have expressed views that do not fit in with the party’s values, we have internal processes to investigate.”
Green Party spokesperson
Speitan defended her activism, telling Middle East Eye that the initiative was beyond a motion – it’s a movement. This is a seed planted here. She also dismissed media inquiries into her relationship with the convicted terrorist as part of mainstream efforts to demonize Palestinians.