Shamima Begum’s lawyer has been fined £6,500 after he appeared on an Iranian TV show dedicated to an anti-Semitic attack against one of Britain’s best known law firms.
Tasnime Akunjee, 46, went on to Press TV where he participated in ‘wide-ranging’ criticism of Mishcon de Reya – which is best known for representing Princess Diana in her divorce from Prince Charles.
On the show, he made false claims that the firm had been fined ‘a record sum for money laundering’ and represented Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet in a broadcast which called them a ‘Zionist Law Firm’.
Despite apologising and ‘feeling uneasy’ about his participation, he has now been hauled in front of a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal and been fined £6,500.
The hearing was told he works as a consultant criminal defence solicitor at Waterfords Group Limited.
In September 2021, the SRA were alerted to Mr Akunjee’s appearance and participation in a programme entitled ‘Mishcon de Reya – Zionist law firm’.
The programme was part of the ‘Palestine Declassified’ series on Press TV – an Iranian state-owned news and documentary network.
It was heard he appeared alongside Chris Williamson, a former MP who was suspended from the Labour party and Mr David Miller, sociologist and former professor of Sociology at Bristol University and former member of the Labour Party.
Prior to this, Mr Williamson, as host of the show, said he would be ‘speaking to experts’ on now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s relationship with Mishcon de Reya and so Mr Akunjee was introduced as someone with ‘expertise on the issues’.
The hearing was told the programme amounted to ‘a wide-ranging criticism of, or attack on, Mishcon de Reya LLP as a firm’ as well as specific named individuals within it.
This focused specifically on the team within the firm who were involved in ‘Israel-related activities’ and Jewish members of the firm, including its links with Israel, lobbying and Sir Keir Starmer.
It was heard the firm was described, in the opening video clip as ‘a law lobbying firm deeply bonded to Israel at every level of the company’.
The panel found although the ‘content and tone of the programme was antisemitic’, it was not being suggested Mr Akunjee himself, said anything of the kind.
In the show he incorrectly said the firm had been fined ‘a record sum for money laundering’ and represented General Pinochet.
However, he told the panel he thought the topic of discussion was Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation and how they were used to ‘suppress Palestinian voices’ as well as a Maltese journalist who had been murdered, whose case Mishcon de Reya had been involved with.
He stated that he had conducted research on these topics, and these topics alone, and was ‘unprepared for the subject matter of the programme’.
Mr Akunjee admitted he ‘felt uneasy about’ the shift in focus to Mishcon de Reya specifically, as he was not ‘adequately researched or prepared’.
The panel found his claims about the firm were ‘false and misleading’.
The panel said: ‘These inaccurate statements were made due to a lack of being prepared for the topic and subject matter covered by the programme.
‘The tribunal found that the tone of the programme was antisemitic by using well known stereotypes and tropes and that it engages several of the examples of antisemitism provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
‘The programme entitled ‘Mishcon de Reya – Zionist Law Firm’ was an attack on Mishcon de Reya and individuals employed at Mishcon de Reya (or who were employed by them) as a Jewish law firm, employing Jewish individuals who are alleged to be promoting a pro-Israel agenda and as a political lobbying firm.
‘Baron Victor de Mishcon, one of the two original partners of the Firm is attacked for his ‘huge slew of involvement with the government and state of Israel’ and the firm is accused of being ‘deeply embedded with politics, finance and lobbying’.
‘Sir Keir Starmer is described as ‘an obedient man servant of Israel’, implying in rather obvious terms that he is controlled or influenced by Israel – the segment goes on to say ‘If we were to follow his servility to Zionism to its lair we would end up with the controversial Mishcon de Reya’ where he was paid over £125,000 in ‘the employment of the strongly pro-Israel lobby group and law firm, slyly pocketing £750 an hour’.
‘The tribunal was therefore satisfied that objectively the tone of the programme was antisemitic.’
However, he since apologised after the complaint was raised.
The panel added: ‘[We] found that his failure to qualify his answers in such circumstances did not lead to a finding of a lack of integrity or lack of moral soundness.
‘[He] clearly made a mistake on that day under pressure.
‘The statement [he] made in relation to the firm’s anti-money-laundering matter was clearly a garbled answer drawn on the SRA’s fine on the basis of a breach of anti-money-laundering procedures… the tribunal considered that [he] simply misspoke.’
They added his claim of them representing General Pinochet was an ‘honest mistake made on the basis of an honestly held belief’.
‘The tribunal therefore found that it was not proven that [he] was reckless,’ they added.
‘The tribunal found that making those inaccurate statements as a solicitor undermined trust and confidence in the profession and caused harm to the firm
‘[We] finally noted that it had found very few aggravating factors and many mitigating factors and concluded that the level of seriousness of the misconduct was low.’
Taking into account his apologies, they decided to fine him £6,500 and for him to pay £30,000 in costs.