The deputy leader of the Green Party has demanded an apology from Keir Starmer after the prime minister appeared to endorse false claims he protested in support of the Iranian regime, leading to him receiving death threats.
Mothin Ali said he was “so scared” that racist threats had escalated to such an extent that “it looks like this time they might get me killed.”
Multiple threatening messages sent to Mothin Ali and seen by The Guardian included “we know where to find you”, “you have no idea what’s coming” and one telling him to “pack your bags before it’s too late”.
The messages were sent after Ali, a local Green Party councillor, attended an anti-war rally in Parliament Square on Saturday that was mischaracterized by organizations such as GB News as a rally in support of the Iranian regime.
“This kind of story could cost me my life,” he said. “I am an anti-war activist, I got involved in politics for anti-war issues. I was there to denounce the illegal attacks (by the United States and Israel against Iran) and raise my voice against Britain’s involvement.”
Starmer said in the House of Commons on Monday: “I think we were all shocked by the actions of the deputy leader of the Green Party, although perhaps not surprised, given that party’s recent turn of direction.”
The comment came in response to a question from Conservative MP Alec Shelbrooke, who said he was “dismayed – not surprised, I’m afraid to say -, as I’m sure the Prime Minister was, at the weekend to see the deputy leader of the Green Party protesting once again in support of the Ayatollah.” He added: “I fear the Green Party has become a magnet for all the people the Prime Minister rightly expelled from the Labor Party.”
He also appeared, without providing evidence, to link Ali to anti-Semitism. The claims were protected by parliamentary privilege, which allows MPs to speak freely in the House of Commons without risk of legal action.
Ali was later defended in parliament by MP Ellie Chowns, who accused Shelbrooke of “attacking the reputation” of her Green Party colleague. He said he had “attended an anti-war protest by the CND Stop the War in support of its principles of being against war and in favor of democracy and diplomacy.”
Starmer and Shelbrooke have been contacted for a response.
Professor Abbas Edalat, founder of CASMII (Campaign Against Sanctions, Military and Imperial Interventions), which organized the demonstration with the support of the Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said there were “different tendencies, different ideologies, different positions on the internal situation in Iran” on Saturday.
However, claims made in GB News that the event was a demonstration in support of the regime were false. “It was a demonstration against the attack by the United States and Israel, now supported by the United Kingdom government, against Iran,” Edalat said. “That was the central slogan against the illegal and unprovoked attack against Iran.
“The Labor government, by allowing the US to use the UK military base in Cyprus, has sided with the US and Israel. It has entered into war of aggression, as it did under Tony Blair with the invasion of Iraq. That is the bottom line.”
Images and videos showed there were a small handful of posters with an image of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the words “choose the right side of history” from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, a group that has historically supported the regime.
However, most held anti-war banners. There were also banners criticizing US President Donald Trump, along with Iranian flags and banners representing groups such as the Women of Color chapter of Global Women’s Strike and the Jewish Network for Palestine. Protesters could be heard chanting: “Labor party, war party.”
Ali said he felt Starmer’s comment was a desperate attempt to discredit the Green Party after a major victory over Labor last week, when Hannah Spencer became the party’s fifth MP in the Gorton and Denton by-election in Manchester.
“It doesn’t just affect me, it affects my family, it affects all the campaigns I’m supposed to work on. I have too much work to do and I don’t know how to defend myself.”
He was recently abused and followed out of Earl’s Court tube station in London by a member of the public who threatened to “smash my head in”, Ali said.
“I held up my phone to try to record it, but I couldn’t press the record button because my hand was shaking. So I just held it up like I was recording, and as soon as I did, he walked away.”
Ali has been a magnet for the far right since his election to Leeds city council in 2024, when he ended his speech with “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is great”.
Far-right online agitators including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, falsely accused him of taking part in riots in his Harehills neighborhood in 2024, when the opposite happened: he stood in front of police to protect them and prevented local residents from taking part in violence.
