Green Party member Lub linked to jailed al-Qaeda supporter in court

Lubna Speitan, a British‑Palestinian artist and Green Party member, was named in 2015 US court documents as a “close friend” of Minh Quang Pham, the man sentenced to 40 years for supporting al‑Qaeda. The documents show Speitan offered to testify about Pham’s mental state in his trial, a fact that resurfaced in court filings reported on Tuesday. Speitan had earlier proposed the Green conference motion that defined Zionism as an ethnonationalist ideology and called for a single democratic Palestinian state across historic Palestine, a motion that was adopted as party policy on Sunday.

The motion has ignited a fresh political firestorm. Israel barred Green leader Zack Polanski from entry, and several Jewish groups described the party’s stance as an “attack” on the Jewish community. Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs have referred the Greens to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The party responded that Speitan holds no official position and that it “takes all allegations of this nature seriously”. The controversy emerges as the Greens seek to cement a more radical stance on the Israeli‑Palestinian conflict ahead of upcoming local elections, prompting critics to question the party’s vetting processes and its tolerance for extremist associations.

Pham, a Vietnamese‑born British national, was arrested at Heathrow in July 2011 after a seven‑month stint in Yemen where he allegedly trained with al‑Qaeda leader Anwar al‑Awlaki. He was extradited to the United States in 2015, pleaded guilty to three counts of supporting al‑Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and received a 40‑year sentence. In a 2016 letter to the US district judge, Speitan described Pham as “one of the kindest, most honest, most sincere people I have known”, urging the court to consider his character. Court filings noted that Speitan’s own medical condition prevented her from testifying in person, but her testimony was deemed “critical” to a mental‑health defence that could have affected the verdict.

The episode puts the Green Party under scrutiny as it grapples with internal dissent and external pressure. If the Equality watchdog opens an investigation, the party could face sanctions or a loss of public funding. Meanwhile, the debate over the Zionism motion is likely to dominate the Greens’ internal discussions and shape its public image ahead of the next election cycle, forcing the party to balance its anti‑racism agenda with the need to distance itself from any perceived links to extremist individuals.