England: Judge who let terror trio go unpunished liked anti-Israel post

Tan Ikram CBE, 58, deputy senior district judged, liked the LinkedIn post by a barrister three weeks ago.

Mr Ikram, who told the women he had decided not to punish them, could now face disciplinary action.

Downing Street confirmed that his case has been referred to the attorney general.

A source said: “Serious questions are being raised in government on how a judge posting this online was able to preside over this landmark case and what this means for the sentencing decision.”

Mr Ikram gave the women a 12-month conditional discharge meaning they could be imprisoned if they commit a crime within a year.

They could, however, have each received a six-month jail term. The Jewish Leadership Council said that the women had got off “scot-free” following sentencing.

Judge Ikram told the women: “Each of you stands convicted of a terrorist offence. There is nothing to suggest the police of their own volition were going to take any action. You’ve not hidden the fact you were carrying these images. You crossed the line, but it would have been fair to say that emotions ran very high on this issue.

“Your lesson has been well learnt. I do not find you were seeking to show any support for Hamas.”

Lawyers for the women said the images were in fact a “cartoon parachute” used as a “symbol of peace”.

The post which Mr Ikram liked on LinkedIn stated: “Free Free Palestine. To the Israeli terrorist both in the United Kingdom, the United States, and of course Israel you can run, you can bomb but you cannot hide — justice will be coming for you.”

Lord Wolfson KC, a former justice minister, said: “Of course judges, like the rest of us, have political opinions. But the long-standing practice of the judiciary was to keep those opinions private, at least for so long as the judge continued to sit.

“In an age of social media, where it is so easy to ‘like’ politically controversial posts, that practice seems all the wiser, both to ensure that justice is done, and also — which is as important — that justice is seen to be done.”

Robert Buckland KC, former justice secretary and lord chancellor, said: “It is vital for the rule of law that our judges and tribunals are free of any actual or perceived bias. It would have been better for the district judge not to have expressed public political views in the first place but then to have recused himself from the case because of his publicly expressed views.”