Mohammed Suleman #

Introduction #

Mohammed Suleman is a British politician who stood as Green Party candidate for the Arthur’s Hill ward of Newcastle City Council at the May 2026 local elections, and became central to the antisemitism row that engulfed the party on Tyneside. On the eve of the vote, Newcastle Green Party withdrew its endorsement of Suleman after reports that a TikTok video claiming Jewish prisoners of war were willing to bury Soviet prisoners alive under Nazi instruction during World War Two had been reposted on his social media account. Because candidate nominations had already closed, his name remained on the ballot paper as a Green, and he won the seat on 7 May 2026 — only to be suspended by the party days after the election, which he is appealing and says was not about sharing antisemitic content.

Background Information #

Suleman contested Arthur’s Hill at an “all out” election in which all 78 seats on Newcastle City Council were up for grabs. The Greens entered the vote with four elected councillors and hoped to make significant gains.

His candidacy was already controversial before the endorsement fight. In mid-April 2026, Labour accused three Newcastle Green candidates — Dr Philip Brookes, Chandni Chopra and Mohammed Suleman — of making “horrendous antisemitic” comments online, and a Labour Party source said the Greens should “urgently” withdraw support for them and make clear the views were “abhorrent”. The Green Party said it was “investigating anything brought to [its] attention that doesn’t fit” with the party’s values, and said some of the posts had been deleted.

The local party issued an apology for posts shared by some of its election candidates, saying that “antisemitism or racism of any kind does not have any place in the Green Party, or anywhere else in society”, while a national spokesperson stressed the importance of a “clear distinction” between “vocal criticisms of Israel and antisemitism”. Suleman was also a director of Fenham Properties Ltd, a company whose prosecution by Newcastle City Council would later feed into questions about his candidacy.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

The allegation at the centre of Suleman’s case concerned a repost on his TikTok account. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, a video was reposted on Suleman’s account which claimed that Jewish prisoners of war were willing to bury Soviet prisoners alive under Nazi instruction during World War Two. In the video, which claimed to be a reading of a Soviet prisoner’s letter, Jews were described as “ungrateful, merciless, and without love”. The BBC reported the same repost, framing the concern as one over “alleged antisemitic posts on social media”; the characterisation of the content as antisemitic was the parties’ and the press’s, and the underlying posts were attributed to his account by news reporting rather than by any court finding.

A Green Party spokesperson said: “Some of these posts were deleted as they do not reflect the views of the Green Party, which is rooted in anti-racism and fighting for a better deal for working class communities.”

Separately — and distinct from the social media allegations — Suleman’s candidacy came in for questioning over waste offences he had admitted in court. Fenham Properties Ltd, of which Suleman is a director, was fined thousands of pounds after being prosecuted by Newcastle City Council for burning waste in a large bonfire on the grounds of the historic Pendower Hall in the city’s West End, which the council labelled an “act of environmental vandalism”. Suleman admitted at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court in June 2025 to illegally disposing of waste and to operating a facility for the disposal of waste without an environmental permit.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The consequences landed two days before the election. On the Tuesday evening, a Green Party spokesperson confirmed: “Newcastle Green Party has withdrawn its endorsement of Philip Brookes (Manor Park) and Mohammed Suleman (Arthur’s Hill) as candidates in the upcoming election while they are subject to an ongoing national Green Party disciplinary process.” Because the announcement came after nominations closed, both men still appeared as Greens on the ballot papers on the Thursday.

The withdrawal was the latest in a series: the party had already pulled its support for Tina Ion, a candidate for Blakelaw and Cowgate, and said it was undertaking an “urgent review” of its vetting process. Green Party leader Zack Polanski, speaking on a visit to Newcastle, said he had confidence in “99%” of his candidates, adding: “It is important to say that I condemn whenever there has been any antisemitism – I do that both as a political leader, but also as someone who is Jewish.” He also cautioned against conflating “genuine antisemitism with legitimate criticism” of the Israeli government.

Despite the withdrawn endorsement, Suleman won election in Arthur’s Hill on 7 May 2026.

Current Status #

Suleman is an elected councillor for Arthur’s Hill who has been suspended by the Green Party and cannot sit in its group. The Guardian reported that he was suspended over media reports that he allegedly shared antisemitic content on social media; Suleman said his suspension, which he is appealing against, was not about sharing antisemitic content, but could not comment further. A Green Party spokesperson said of the suspended newly elected candidates: “All three of these candidates were suspended from the Green party at the time of the election so will not be able to sit as Green party councillors. They will sit as independents.” The national disciplinary process referenced at the time his endorsement was withdrawn remained the formal mechanism resolving his status.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Suleman’s political career therefore began in office under the cloud it had been elected in: endorsed by no party on the ballot, suspended by the party that had selected him within days of winning, and required to sit as an independent while his appeal was heard. The suspension — a party action taken over media reports rather than a court ruling — left the core allegation unresolved in the public record, and his denial meant the dispute over the repost remained live. The case also marked him beyond social media: the court-admitted waste offences at Pendower Hall, committed through his company before his candidacy, gave the scrutiny of his suitability a separate and factual dimension. His trajectory — endorsed, disowned, elected, suspended — became part of the broader 2026 pattern in which newly elected councillors across parties were audited over their social media histories, with several newly elected Green representatives facing criticism over alleged antisemitic comments in the same week.