Green Party Figure Behind 'Zionism Is Racism' Motion Described as 'Close Friend' of Jailed al-Qaeda Supporter in US Court Papers

The Green Party activist who authored a controversial motion declaring Zionism to be racism was identified in American court records as a "close friend" of a man imprisoned for supporting al-Qaeda, according to documents reviewed by BBC News.

Lubna Speitan, a British-Palestinian artist and party member, put forward the conference motion that characterised Zionism as an ideology backing "an ethnonationalist Jewish state," a proposal that delegates approved on Sunday and which now forms part of Green Party policy.

Court filings dating from 2015 indicate that Speitan volunteered to appear as a defence witness in the case of Minh Quang Pham, a Vietnamese-born British national who received a 40-year sentence in the United States after admitting to charges connected to his backing of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP. Pham consistently denied allegations that he planned a suicide bombing at Heathrow Airport.

The BBC stated that it had approached Speitan for a response. The Green Party, meanwhile, said that Speitan occupies no official roles within the organisation and that it treats "all allegations of this nature seriously."

The motion Speitan proposed advocates for "a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine," a territory that encompasses present-day Israel. Its passage over the weekend provoked a significant political backlash: Israel announced a ban preventing Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country, while various Jewish organisations condemned the motion as an assault on their community. A number of Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs went further, referring the party to Britain's equality watchdog.

Speitan has defended the motion's intent, arguing that its supporters were seeking to express opposition to what she described as "racist systems of oppression."

On Tuesday, further details surfaced regarding Speitan's connection to Pham. She reportedly wrote a letter in 2016 to the New York judge presiding over his case, in which she described him as "one of the kindest, honest, most sincere" individuals she had ever encountered. The letter's existence was initially reported by the Jewish Chronicle and subsequently confirmed by BBC News.

Pham's case dates back to July 2011, when he was detained at Heathrow Airport following a seven-month stay in Yemen. Authorities discovered a live round of ammunition in his possession. In 2015, he was extradited to the United States, and the following year he was handed a 40-year prison term after entering guilty pleas to three counts related to his support for AQAP, an al-Qaeda affiliate.

American prosecutors alleged that Pham had been instructed by Anwar al-Awlaki, a prominent al-Qaeda figure, to carry out an explosives attack in Heathrow's arrivals area after receiving several months of training in Yemen under his direction. The 2015 court documents described Speitan as a "close friend" of Pham who was prepared to offer "critical testimony regarding Pham's mental state." The filings suggested this evidence would be "crucial in establishing a mental health defense" and would "bear on the issue of guilt." The documents also noted that a medical condition prevented Speitan from testifying in person.

In a subsequent letter addressed to the US District Judge, Speitan reportedly wrote that Pham was among the "few people I regard with such high respect and esteem." She speculated that if the judge "truly knew the Minh that and others grew to love and respect," the case might have been "dismissed" entirely. While she conceded that Pham "may have had and developed some behavioural issues," she added that he had become "one of the kindest, honest, most sincere, trustworthy and respectful people I have ever known."

The court documents contain no indication that Speitan was aware of Pham's criminal activities during the period in which they knew one another. When approached by The Telegraph and asked whether she remained friends with Pham, she was reported to have answered: "Yes, it's still the case." She also reportedly expressed a belief that Pham had been "targeted" by "the system."

A spokesperson for the Green Party commented: "Where members have expressed views that do not fit in with the party's values, we have internal processes to investigate."

The revelations arrive at a moment of considerable internal strain for the Greens. Polanski, who is Jewish, has been attempting to manage deep divisions among party members, MPs, and deputy leaders over the conference motion. Several Green councillors have stepped down since the vote, and on Tuesday the party's deputy leader in Wales, Phil Davies, resigned and relinquished his membership, calling the motion "the final nail in the coffin."

In a lengthy statement issued on Monday evening, Polanski insisted he would not permit anyone to be excluded from the party "because of the religious or communal body they are part of." He further emphasised that "antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct."

The controversy has also prompted the chair of Jewish Greens to suggest she might leave the party altogether. The overlapping stories—the court documents linking a motion author to a convicted terrorist supporter, and the widening rift within Green ranks—have combined to place the party under intense scrutiny at a time when it is seeking to present itself as a coherent political force.