A family doctor suspended after being exposed by The Mail on Sunday as the leader of a banned extremist group has raised more than £50,000 to fight the NHS.
Abdul Wahid was the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), which caused outrage after its members screamed for jihad on the streets of London days after Hamas’s terror attack on Israel on October 7.
The extremist chief himself praised the attack as a ‘welcome punch on the nose’ for Israel.
But a week after HT’s march, the MoS uncovered Wahid’s identity, revealing how he had been practising as a GP for more than 20 years under his real name, Wahid Asif Shaida.
Patients at the suburban surgery in north-west London had no idea of his double life as the UK head of a global extremist group.
Abdul Wahid (pictured) was an NHS doctor and the leader of Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), which caused outrage after its members screamed for jihad on the streets of London
The MoS uncovered Wahid’s identity, revealing how he had been practising as a GP for more than 20 years under his real name, Wahid Asif Shaida
NHS England suspended Wahid and, in January, the then home secretary James Cleverly proscribed HT as a terror group, making membership punishable with a jail term of up to 14 years.
Last night, it emerged Wahid has raised £51,485 on the website CrowdJustice to fight his suspension, with the target of hitting £60,000 in the next fortnight.
On his fundraising page, Wahid, 55, describes his past as leader of HT as ‘political activity’, saying: ‘I need legal assistance to deal with an investigation and suspension by NHS England.’
He adds: ‘In October 2023, pro-Israel media, activists and politicians started demanding that I be struck off for my political activity, all expressed lawfully and outside of the work setting.’
Rather than saying he was suspended for leading a group that has also been banned in Germany and several Islamic countries, Wahid blamed the suspension on him expressing pro-Palestine views.
Within hours of the October 7 attacks, Wahid told a podcast that Hamas terrorists were ‘brave mujahideen’ who gave the enemy ‘a very welcome punch on the nose’.
Wahid has started a fundraiser to help towards his legal defence against his NHS suspension
Days later, he led marches outside the Egyptian and Turkish embassies in London, where HT members demanded an invasion to rescue Palestinians.
When a speaker shouted, ‘What is the solution to liberate people in the concentration camp called Palestine?’ they shouted back: ‘Jihad! Jihad! Jihad!’ Wahid told the crowd: ‘Victory is coming and everyone has to choose a side. Whose side are you going to be on?’
The news of Wahid’s fundraising has caused anger among terrorism experts. Colonel Richard Kemp, the former commander of UK forces in Afghanistan, said: ‘Nobody should be giving this person a platform to raise money for legal fees. It is disgusting. The platform should remove him at once.’
Last night CrowdJustice could not be reached for comment. On its website it says: ‘We don’t allow certain types of cases and behaviours.’
This includes content that is ‘gratuitously violent, sexually explicit or needlessly upsetting’, or ‘promotes violence, abuse, hate, harassment or intimidation’. Wahid did not respond to calls for comment.
