Farrukh Najeeb Husain

Introduction

Farrukh Najeeb Husain is an immigration and employment solicitor who was struck off the roll on 23 February 2024 after the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found a number of his social media posts antisemitic and offensive. The posts, made on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter), were directed at individual Jewish public figures, and the tribunal heard the case with expert witness testimony provided by the Campaign Against Antisemitism on behalf of the regulator. Husain represented himself at the hearings, which began in September 2023, and the outcome removed him from the profession after a contested case built around his own online conduct.

Background Information

Husain practised as an immigration and employment solicitor and was employed at the law firm Bevan Brittan when complaints about his conduct on X were reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority by the firm itself. The SRA investigated and brought the case to the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. Stephen Silverman, the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Director of Investigations and Enforcement, gave expert witness testimony for the SRA. The hearings began in September last year, and Husain chose to represent himself rather than instruct counsel, cross-examining the regulator’s witnesses himself as the case proceeded.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The findings described here are a matter of tribunal record: the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal found a number of Husain’s social media posts were antisemitic and offensive and struck him off the roll. These are regulatory findings in professional disciplinary proceedings, not criminal convictions: he was never criminally charged.

The posts at the centre of the case were directed at Simon Myerson KC, a barrister, and Hugo Rifkind, a journalist. Husain called Rifkind a “Zionist pig” and referenced his “eastern European kin”, and claimed Myerson “wreaks of white privilege”. During the case he did not moderate his language: he accused the SRA of “weaponising new antisemitism” and subverting the International Definition of Antisemitism, claimed the regulator was “in bed” with the Campaign Against Antisemitism, and called the SRA’s counsel an “imperialist” who “bang[ed] on about the Holocaust because [she] wants to hide [her] country’s own crimes”. In cross-examination he said “Mr Myerson is a fascist.” Told Silverman: “It is you who are engaging in the antisemitic trope that there is a collection of Jews who are self-haters, who have turned against their nation and who are spouting conspiracy theories.” Asked if he was calling Silverman an antisemite, he replied: “Yes.” He also baselessly accused the Campaign Against Antisemitism of being set up and funded by a former Israeli diplomat. He was repeatedly reminded by the chairperson to conduct himself, and the panel accused him of “bordering on being abusive to Mr Silverman at times”.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The tribunal struck Husain off the roll, ending his career as a solicitor. The Campaign Against Antisemitism, whose expert evidence supported the regulator’s case, welcomed the outcome through a spokesperson: “This is the right sanction. Farrukh Najeeb Husain’s rhetoric online was vile, and there was no evidence of any regard or remorse for the hurt and disgust that he caused.” The case was reported as a significant disciplinary outcome for a solicitor whose online conduct toward Jewish public figures was found by the tribunal to be antisemitic and offensive, and the fact that his own employer had reported him to the regulator underscored how far his conduct sat from acceptable professional standards.

Current Status

Husain was struck off the roll on 23 February 2024 and can no longer practise as a solicitor. The findings against him are regulatory rather than criminal: he was never criminally charged, and the tribunal’s conclusions were reached in professional disciplinary proceedings that he contested in person, representing himself from the start of the hearings in September 2023 through the tribunal’s decision. The tribunal found his posts antisemitic and offensive; his own conduct during the proceedings — the accusations against the regulator, its counsel and the expert witness — formed part of the record the panel assessed alongside the original posts.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Striking off ends a solicitor’s membership of the profession permanently, subject only to any appeal. For Husain, an immigration and employment solicitor, the loss follows directly from posts he made on X and from the way he conducted himself once the matter reached a hearing: the process began with a complaint reported to the regulator by Bevan Brittan, the law firm employing him at the time. The tribunal’s findings place him on the public record as a solicitor removed for antisemitic social media conduct, with the Campaign Against Antisemitism’s expert testimony — and its spokesperson’s conclusion that his rhetoric was “vile” and without “any regard or remorse” — part of the permanent account of the case.

Sources

• Campaign Against Antisemitism, “Solicitor Farrukh Najeeb Husain struck off after tribunal finds his tweets antisemitic and offensive, in case where CAA provided expert opinion”, 23 February 2024. source