Over 100 public figures sign statement condemning UK harassment of Muslim solicitor Fahad Ansari

More than one hundred academics, lawyers, imams, journalists and campaigners have signed a statement condemning what they describe as an “escalating campaign of harassment” by British authorities against Fahad Ansari, an Irish Muslim solicitor known for his work on national security and human rights.

Ansari was detained on 6 August 2025 under the Schedule 7 powers of the Terrorism Act while returning from a family holiday in Ireland through Holyhead port. Police held him for nearly three hours, interrogated him about his religious practice, including how regularly he attends mosque, his views on Palestine, and seized his work phone, which contained legally privileged information. His family, including his wife and children, were made to wait in their car throughout the ordeal. The detention of Ansari is said to be the first known case in which Schedule 7 powers have been used against a solicitor in this manner.

Ansari is a senior solicitor known for his legal work on national security cases, including challenging government actions in the courts. Earlier this year, he persuaded the Supreme Court to rule that the UK government had acted unlawfully by denying citizenship to the child of a man whose own nationality had been stripped. In April, he submitted a formal application for the deprescription of Hamas, invoking Section 4 of the Terrorism Act 2000 — a legal provision allowing banned organisations to challenge their status.