Law Society rejects complaint against Aamer Anwar from Glasgow Friends of Israel

Aamer Anwar

Mr Anwar will face no disciplinary proceedings for accusing the Confederation of Friends of Israel of “rank hypocrisy”.

The human rights lawyer urged demonstrators at a Stand Up To Racism march in 2018 to confront members of the group, whom he said were “denying the right of a people to their own state”.

Sammy Stein, chairman of Glasgow Friends of Israel, said the group turned up to “show our abhorrence of racism in all its forms”.

Mr Anwar’s comments were, he said, “unfair, untrue and based on total ignorance of our position, which is to advocate for peace for both the Israeli and Palestinian people and support for a two-state solution”.

Mr Stein contacted the Law Society of Scotland after Mr Anwar failed to apologise to him, he said.

The Law Society’s standards of conduct state that solicitors “must be trustworthy and act honestly at all times”.

It has, however, rejected the complaint that Mr Anwar’s “reckless and inflammatory” remarks “had defamed a group I belong to … and in so doing brought me and the other members of the group in to disrepute”.

Mr Stein told said that the ruling had “provided a green light [for solicitors] to disparage and denigrate without any fear of consequence”.

Lorna Jack, the society’s chief executive, said: “We have a statutory duty to the public with regard to their dealings with Scottish solicitors and there is a robust complaints process in place which enables us to fulfil those duties.”