Met Police special constable admits posting offensive tweets about Jewish and non-Muslim people - but insists she shouldn't be sacked
A Met Police special constable has admitted to posting offensive tweets about Jewish and non-Muslim people, but insisted she shouldn't be sacked.
PC Ruby Begums apologised during a police misconduct hearing and admitted she used offensive language such as 'dirty Zionists. Hell is waiting' while serving as a special constable.
The 29-year-old also admitted to using the term 'kuffar' to refer to non-believers, saying: 'Kuffar lips have been all over my mug, there is no way I'm using that thing again.'
The posts were made between 2013 and 2019 and Ms Begum has been accused of failing to disclose the Twitter username @ruby-beee twice during vetting processes in 2014 and 2016.
The hearing was told accusations against Ms Begum that she had held an interest in extremist preachers and had failed to disclose her links to a jihadi woman living inside a so-called Islamic State caliphate in Syria had been dropped over a lack of evidence.
Ruby Begum was hailed an inspirational role model after footage showing her bravely confronting anti-lockdown protesters while wearing a hijab went viral two years ago
Ms Begum gained widespread recognition in 2020 after a photo of her facing down anti-lockdown protesters in London went viral.
But in 2021, a Mail on Sunday article revealed her controversial posts on Twitter.
Ms Begum, who was raised in a Muslim household in east London, admitted that she had used discriminatory language when describing Arabs, people from Pakistan and non-Muslims.
One post referenced the 2014 beheading of Alan Henning at the hands of 'Jihadi John': 'You lot saying free Alan Henning. Remember the Muslim brothers and sisters imprisoned by Kuffar.'
She also made a series of posts about the September 11 attacks.
On the 17th anniversary, Ms Begum said: 'You must be stupid if you think I'm gonna do two minutes silence 9/11.'
A year later, she posted: 'Omg it's 9/11 today. Jokes. I only noticed.'
Ms Begum told the panel she made the comments when she was a 'different person' who was 'narrow minded', adding: 'I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.'
The hearing was told that the defendant believed her comments on Jewish people, Arabs and non-Muslims amounted to misconduct, but not gross misconduct which would result in her dismissal.
Ms Begum instead believed a final warning would be sufficient.
In 2021, a Mail on Sunday article revealed her controversial posts on Twitter
She argued her comments about Pakistani people, which were posted prior to her joining the Metropolitan Police in 2014 but remained visible to the public while she was serving, were offensive but would only have breached the professional code if she had been a serving officer at the time.
Ms Begum later told the panel: 'I was just identifying (Pakistani people). There was no hate or insult intended'.
Asked why she did not delete the posts, she said: 'In my head it didn't stick out like it was something really bad I had to go back years and years for a specific tweet and delete it. I didn't think about it all.'
Ms Begum also claimed her comments about the 9/11 terror attacks were a response to the Islamophobic abuse that followed and were not mocking the attacks nor those who died.
She said: 'I wasn't mocking 9/11. There is always tension on the anniversary in Muslim communities. Something would always happen.
'(The anniversary) took me back to the hurtful and painful experiences of when I was young and when I was a teenager.
'I would never invite people to make jokes about 9/11 because that's not what I was doing at the time. If I could go back in time and change it I would. I'm sorry.'
She denied failing to disclose her Twitter username during two vetting processes and claimed she provided the handle @ruby-beee on both occasions but that the posts appeared under the name @ruby-beees after she changed it in 2019.
When asked about the Mail on Sunday headline from 2021 which read 'Exposed: Muslim policewoman who was hailed as a hero for confronting anti-lockdown protesters posted a torrent of racist messages', Ms Begum said she felt she was being targeted for her Islamic faith and culture.
Ms Begum is attached to the Territorial Support Group.
The misconduct hearing is looking at whether she breached the standards of professional behaviour in discreditable conduct; equality and diversity; and honesty and integrity.
