Tory MP Bob Stewart showed ‘racial hostility’ towards activist, court told

A Conservative politician demonstrated “racial hostility” towards an activist by telling him to “go back to Bahrain”, a court has heard.

Bob Stewart, the MP for Beckenham in south-east London, also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei “you’re taking money off my country, go away”, during a row outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House in Westminster on 14 December last year.

The 74-year-old MP had been attending an event hosted by the Bahraini embassy when Alwadaei, who was protesting outside, shouted: “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”

During a heated exchange, Stewart replied: “Go away, I hate you. You make a lot of fuss. Go back to Bahrain.”

In footage played during the trial at Westminster magistrates court on Friday, he also said: “Now shut up, you stupid man.”

Paul Jarvis, prosecuting, said: “Mr Alwadaei felt upset and humiliated by what had taken place”. He added: “He [Stewart] demonstrated racial hostility towards Mr Alwadaei by way of his comments.”

However, the prosecutor said Stewart “was not motivated by racial hostility”, merely demonstrating it.

Jarvis told the court Stewart later said he regretted the comments and that he should have ignored the protester but denied the comments were racist.

The chief magistrate Paul Goldspring said if Stewart was found guilty his offences were non-custodial.

The Metropolitan police launched an investigation after a complaint was made by Alwadaei, an activist for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, who has said he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state.

During his evidence, Alwadaei said he was exercising his right to protest by questioning Stewart and had not intended to insult the MP. He accused Stewart of being financed by Bahrain and of acting as a “well-known defender” of the regime, the court heard.

The protester also claimed that during a trip to the country, Stewart had chanted “god save the king of Bahrain”.

Asked how he felt after their exchange last year, Alwadaei said: “I feel that I was dehumanised, like I was someone who is not welcomed in the UK.” He added: “Because of my skin colour, because of where I came from, he feels I am taking money from his country.”

Alwadaei said if he did return to Bahrain, he would “undoubtedly be killed and tortured”.

Parliamentary records show Stewart registered flights, accommodation and meals worth £5,349 during a four-day trip to Bahrain last November paid for by its ministry of foreign affairs. A separate entry covered by the Bahraini government shows another trip, worth £1,245.56, to visit an airshow and meet its foreign minister.

Alwadaei alleged the Middle Eastern country was “corrupt” and a “human rights violator”.

Stewart, a former British army officer, kept the Tory whip after being charged with a racially aggravated public order offence, which he denies. He also pleaded not guilty to using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.

The one-day trial continues.