Who am I?

Like many others I happen to think that being a professional shouldn’t curtail my right to speak critically about Islam on social media.  Yet because I’m an actuary, and hence subject to professional regulation, I was subjected to a lengthy probe into my Twitter posts which culminated in a reprimand, 2-year ban from the profession and a cost penalty of nearly £23,000. 

Summary

After a 30-year blemish-free career, my professional regulator, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA), sanctioned me in 2024 for criticising Islam on Twitter in a personal capacity. My criticisms were strong but justified.  As you would expect for someone with a scientific background and actuarial training my tweets were evidence-based such as with quotes from many official Islamic texts which condone or encourage violence, particularly against girls and women.

Call to action 

I’m suing the IFoA for discrimination and harassment arising from its challenge to my tweets that criticised Islam.  In July 2025 I secured a ground-breaking decision when Employment Judge Khan ruled that my Islam-critical beliefs are protected in law under anti-discrimination laws.  This is the first time a judge has made such a ruling, and in fact judges in a previous case ruled Islam-critical beliefs to be unprotected as they were deemed ‘not worthy of respect in a democracy’. 

My claim will now proceed to a 7-day final hearing in February 2026 at which the Central London Employment Tribunal will decide whether the IFoA acted unlawfully regarding my protected beliefs, which are ‘worthy of respect in a democracy’. 

What I'm trying to achieve 

For too many years, regulators such as the IFoA – and others such as those regulating barristers, dentists, doctors, nurses, police officers, social workers, solicitors and teachers – have inhibited the rights of these workers and professionals to contribute to important social and political issues by the actual or implied threat of disciplinary action.  This is a particular problem when it comes to an honest and open discussion about Islam, which is a belief system with profound social and political consequences.  

As a general rule it is harmful to democracy if citizens are fettered in their freedom to participate in personal capacities in debates on important social and political issues.  

The "grooming gang" scandal, in which large numbers of young girls were and continue to be raped and tortured, is a prime example: many of those who were aware that girls were being treated appallingly were threatened with career-changing consequences if they didn't keep quiet. To give just one example from my case, the IFoA specifically objected to me mentioning the predominantly Pakistani Muslim element of the grooming gangs.

Ground-breaking legal cases like those brought by Maya Forstater and Allison Bailey have established that the curtailment of gender-critical beliefs can be unlawful.  I now hope to establish that the curtailment of Islam-critical beliefs can also be unlawful. We surely want to live in a democracy where reasoned and evidence-based criticisms of Islam cannot result in the sort of penalties imposed on me..

Next steps

The parties are due to finalise document bundles and exchange witness statements and skeleton arguments ahead of the 7-day final hearing in February 2026. 

How much am I raising and why? 

I need your help please to raise £18,000 to pay solicitors to progress this challenging and important case to its conclusion.  This sum is relatively modest for a case of this complexity as I have been fortunate enough to have secured pro-bono assistance from barrister Jon Holbrook. Indeed, thanks to Jon’s considerable pro-bono work since 2021 in getting me to this stage the funding target is significantly smaller than in the ground-breaking gender critical cases mentioned above.  Any unused funds will be put towards other important free speech cases. 

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Thank you!  Your support is important in helping to close a backdoor blasphemy law that protects Islam.