Green Party Figure Behind 'Zionism Is Racism' Motion Described as 'Close Friend' of Jailed al-Qaeda Supporter in US Court Files

A Green Party member who authored a controversial conference motion declaring Zionism to be racism was identified in American court documents as a "close friend" of a British national who was imprisoned in the United States for supporting al-Qaeda, BBC News has confirmed.

Lubna Speitan, a British-Palestinian artist, brought forward the motion at the Green Party's conference that defined Zionism as an ideology backing "an ethnonationalist Jewish state." The proposal was approved on Sunday and now forms part of the party's official policy platform, a development that has triggered significant political fallout.

Papers dating from 2015, which have been reviewed by BBC News, show that Speitan offered to appear as a defence witness in the case of Minh Quang Pham, who received a 40-year prison sentence in the US after entering a guilty plea to charges of supporting al-Qaeda. Pham had denied allegations that he was planning a suicide bombing at Heathrow Airport.

The motion put forward by Speitan calls for "a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine," a territory that encompasses the modern state of Israel. The language of the motion and its passage have generated intense debate both inside and outside the Green Party.

The diplomatic and political consequences were swift. Israel announced that it would bar Green Party leader Zack Polanski from entering the country. Meanwhile, Jewish community organisations characterised the motion as an "attack" on their community, and a number of Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs referred the party to Britain's equality watchdog for investigation.

Speitan has defended the motion, arguing that those who supported it were seeking to express opposition to what she described as "racist systems of oppression." She has not responded to requests from the BBC for comment on the court documents.

The connection between Speitan and Pham first came to public attention through reporting by the Jewish Chronicle, which obtained the court letter, and its contents have since been independently verified by BBC News. In a letter written in 2016 to the New York judge presiding over the Pham case, Speitan described him as "one of the kindest, honest, most sincere" individuals she had ever encountered.

The background to Pham's case is significant. A Vietnamese-born British national who had been living in London, Pham was detained at Heathrow Airport in July 2011 after returning from a seven-month stay in Yemen. At the time of his arrest, he was found carrying a live round of ammunition.

He was subsequently extradited to the United States in 2015. The following year, he was handed a 40-year prison term after admitting to three counts related to his support for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), an offshoot of the wider al-Qaeda network, according to BBC reporting.

American prosecutors alleged that Pham had been instructed by al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki to carry out an explosives attack in Heathrow's arrivals area, following several months of training under Awlaki's direction in Yemen.

In the 2015 court filings, Speitan was recorded as a "close friend" of Pham who was prepared to give what the documents described as "critical testimony regarding Pham's mental state." The filings stated that such evidence would be "crucial in establishing a mental health defense" and would "bear on the issue of guilt."

The documents also noted that Speitan suffered from a medical condition that made it impossible for her to testify in person. In her subsequent letter to the US District Judge, she stated that Pham was among the "few people I regard with such high respect and esteem."

She went further, suggesting that if the judge had "truly knew the Minh [Pham] that and others grew to love and respect," the court might have "probably had the whole case dismissed." While she conceded that he "may have had and developed some behavioural issues," she nonetheless described him as "one of the kindest, honest, most sincere, trustworthy and respectful people I have ever known."

The court documents contain no indication that Speitan was aware of Pham's criminal activities during the period in which they knew one another. The Telegraph reported that when its journalists asked Speitan whether she remained friends with Pham, she answered affirmatively: "Yes, it's still the case." She was also quoted as saying she believed Pham had been "targeted" by "the system."

A spokesperson for the Green Party responded to the revelations by stating: "Where members have expressed views that do not fit in with the party's values, we have internal processes to investigate." The party has also said that Speitan holds no official positions within its structures and that it "takes all allegations of this nature seriously."

The disclosures have compounded an already difficult period for the Green Party, which has been struggling with internal divisions since the motion's adoption. Green leader Zack Polanski, who is Jewish, has faced the challenge of managing dissent among party members, parliamentarians, and deputy leaders over the position.

Several Green councillors have resigned in the wake of the vote. Among them was Phil Davies, the party's deputy leader in Wales, who stepped down and cancelled his membership on Tuesday. He described the motion as "the final nail in the coffin."

In an effort to calm the situation, Polanski issued a lengthy statement on Monday evening, making clear that he would not tolerate anyone being excluded from the party "because of the religious or communal body they are part of." He stressed that "antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli state are, and must always be, completely distinct."

The controversy has also prompted responses from other quarters. The Jewish Greens chair has indicated she could leave the party over the motion, adding another layer of internal pressure on the leadership. The episode has highlighted the broader tensions within left-wing politics regarding Israel, Palestine, and the boundaries between political criticism and antisemitism.

For the Green Party, the coming weeks are likely to involve difficult conversations about its policy direction and internal cohesion, as well as potential scrutiny from the equality watchdog. The question of how the party reconciles its newly adopted position with the concerns of its Jewish members and the wider public remains unresolved.