Fahad Ansari, a solicitor who represented Hamas in its challenge to proscription in the UK, has said it was 'chilling' that police 'equated him with his client' after he was stopped on return from a family holiday in Ireland. He claims the British state is effectively seeking to strip his clients of their voice in court by intimidating lawyers like him.
Police Risk Assessment Form
On a risk assessment form, a detective inspector who authorised Ansari's detention under the Terrorism Act at the port of Holyhead on 6 August 2025 wrote 'Hamas' in the space reserved for 'membership of a known group'. The form was released as part of the legal process. Ansari is challenging the stop, claiming his detention and the processing of data from his phone containing legally privileged lawyer-client communications were unlawful.
Lawyer's Response
Before Wednesday's judicial review of the stop, Ansari said: 'As a solicitor from Ireland, seeing this in black and white was chilling: it echoes a dark period when the British state targeted lawyers for representing members of another proscribed group [the IRA]. This is not Belfast in the 1980s when such messages were delivered with bullets, but the intention is the same: represent Hamas and face consequences. By trying to intimidate lawyers like me, the British state is effectively seeking to strip my clients of their voice in court.'
Legal Submissions
In written submissions for this week's trial, Hugh Southey KC, representing Ansari, said: 'The claimant is not a member of Hamas. His only association with the organisation is his instruction as their solicitor in the de-proscription proceedings lodged in April 2025.' Southey argued that the detective inspector's witness statement, which claimed the form was 'not accurate' and that he intended to write 'worked as a solicitor for Hamas', suggested that 'at least, representation of Hamas was equated with membership'.
Targeted Stop
Southey said the first defendant, the chief constable of North Wales police, had given 'confused, contradictory and less than candid' explanations of whether the stop was random or targeted. He added: 'Between 8 and 12 August 2025, the claimant's work mobile phone was downloaded and copied. The contents have been examined. This was a directed and targeted stop against a practising solicitor acting for persons of interest to law enforcement and the intelligence and security services.' Ansari suspects that 'a key purpose, if not the primary purpose, of the stop was to obtain access to his phone'.
Previous Stop
The submissions note that Ansari had also been stopped in June 2024 in an apparent random detention under schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, but was not asked questions about Palestine or Hamas. Southey said: 'The significant difference in the intervening period of time was the application on behalf of Hamas on 9 April 2025.' He added that complaints were made to counter-terrorism police about Ansari, and the then shadow secretary of state, Robert Jenrick, complained to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Both North Wales police and the Home Office declined to comment on the case while it is active.
