An NHS doctor charged with posting on social media in support of Hamas appeared in court today wearing a 'celebratory' gold number 7 necklace, as she prepares for a trial next year.
Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, a 31-year-old British Palestinian trainee surgeon in trauma and orthopaedics, faces four counts of inviting support for the proscribed group Hamas. The charges relate to comments posted online between July 23 and December 31 last year.
Additionally, she is accused of using threatening or abusive insulting words at a protest on July 21 in Westminster, and stirring up racial hatred in written material on November 19.
It is alleged that on July 23, she wrote: 'I don't condemn Hamas. I don't condemn October 7,' and 'I condemn the existence of Israel.' On December 31, she allegedly wrote: 'Free the world from Jewish supremacy.' On the second anniversary of the October 7 attack, she is said to have posted an image of a bulldozer with the text: 'Glory to the Palestinian resistance.'
Posts also included calling Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis a 'genocidal murderer,' it is claimed. She allegedly said Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking money from the Israeli lobby was a sign of 'Jewish supremacy.'
Dr Aladwan was arrested at her home in Pilning, south Gloucestershire, and charged with the six offences on March 26. She appeared at the Old Bailey today, speaking only to confirm her identity.
She wore a gold number 7 necklace, which she had previously described as 'celebratory jewellery' in photos shared online. In court, she was dressed in a grey jacket, black trousers, and a white shirt.
Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a trial at Bristol Crown Court from March 15 next year, with a plea hearing on a date to be fixed in August. The defendant was granted continued bail, with conditions that she must not own more than one electronic device and must not operate more than one social media account.
