The Referrals Need to Stop
The Referrals Need to Stop
Introduction
My name is Fatimah Mohamied, I’m a British Muslim, midwife and mother of Egyptian and Bengali heritage. Due to my Palestinian advocacy and criticism of Zionism, I was referred twice to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) by anonymous individuals, and then again by my former employer, Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust, who 5 days later, referred me to the Police under Prevent , a counter-terrorism strategy led by the UK government.
These referrals were made, shockingly a whole year after I had stopped working for my former employer, this was in response to a letter the Trust had received from UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI), a pro-Israeli lobby group which uses legal advocacy to support Israel, who accused me of antisemitism and supporting terrorism. In 2023, UKLFI successfully lobbied Chelsea and Westminster to remove displays of artwork by Palestinian children from Gaza. The ultimate aim of the referrals was undoubtedly to silence, intimidate and punish me, and hence us, for advocating for Palestinians, standing against racism, and for critiquing Zionism. All referrals were closed by the NMC and Police, clearing me of the allegations made.
I am therefore taking legal action against the Trust for post-employment harassment and discrimination, in the hope for accountability that will lead to the protection of NHS workers, for adhering to values of dignity and humanity. Because no one should go through what I have been through.
I call on others to support me in a case which will define the rights of healthcare workers to call out injustice and be free from relentless harassment, discrimination and vilification.
Background
While employed as a Cultural Safety Lead midwife at the Trust, a role created specifically to tackle systemic inequality and racism, I advocated for the Palestinian people. As a midwife, my duty towards women, infants and families led to a natural investment in justice. Advocacy, after all, is a prominent part of our role – to speak up for the vulnerable, marginalised and dispossessed. These are NHS values and should invariably include opposing illegal occupation, apartheid and ethnic cleansing, as they are severe manifestations of racism. But I learnt quickly that the Trust only wanted to look good, not do good.
1: The Trust’s impingement of freedom of speech
75 years after the commencement of the illegal occupation of Palestine, in October 2023, I tweeted support for Palestinian resistance against illegal occupation: a human right that is protected under international law.
The Trust received a complaint about me that claimed I was inciting violence and supporting terrorism, I was then called into an emergency meeting. The Trust, infatuated with its image and not its service, demanded that I remove all my tweets from October 7th 2023, stop tweeting politically on my own personal social media account, and create a new anonymous one where I could be free to opine. If I did not comply then HR would be consulted.
Naturally, I said no. I quoted the reports, the laws, and the logical surmise that the Trust were impinging my freedom of expression; contradicting the purpose of my role as Cultural Safety Lead Midwife, which was to advocate against racism. The Trust eventually dropped their demands of me, but they did not stop their silencing. Every attempt I made to bring the question of Gaza or Palestine into my work was impeded and obstructed. In short, I was censored from speaking about Palestinians, or the wild killing they were and still are forced to bear. After receipt of more complaints of my social media posts on my own personal account, the Trust declared that if such complaints continued I would be investigated. It was clear the Trust did not abide by their own values.
I was feeling deeply unsettled and stressed by these events. My soul was discontent. How could I continue doing antiracist work for the Trust but not speak about the most prolific manifestation of racism in contemporary history? Evidently, the Trust was not a safe place to work, and in hindsight, even leave. Weathered by horrific daily images of a full-blown genocide, and being censored from saying anything about it, I decided to follow my instincts and leave without other employment to fall onto.
I had hoped that the harassment would end after I left, but then came the referrals. First in 2024, then another 5 months later in February 2025. Both accusing me of antisemitism and support for terrorism, both the Trust were aware of, and both were closed by the NMC, where the right of nurses and midwives to express an opinion was confirmed.
In early March 2025, UKLFI wrote to the Trust, charging me with bullying, harassment and support for terrorism, citing a previous complaint they had made to the Trust that I had expressed “support for the terrorist organisation Hamas”. 
The Trust assured UKLFI that action would be taken, despite the fact I hadn’t worked with them for a year. They did this on the 20th of March 2025, by making a fitness to practice referral to the NMC against me, but this seems to have not been enough, because on the 25th of March 2025, the Trust transferred their referral to Prevent.
The NMC informed me of their decision to close the case on the 26th March 2025 with a statement that criticism of a political ideology (ie Zionism) is not the same as discrimination of an ethnic group or population. But in a landscape of impunity, injustice multiplies and metastasises.
Two months later, on the 21st of May 2025, I received an incredibly alarming email from the Police, alerting me to a Prevent referral made and asking to speak about it with me. It brought the most significant stress I had ever experienced in my entire life. Someone referred me to Prevent? The Police want to talk to me? What was it about? Are my children safe? Is my husband safe? Will I be separated from them? Will they do to me what they have done to countless other Muslims, and detain me at length without charge? The consecutive stress and emotional drainage of the NMC referrals was nothing in comparison to this, and it was by design. Indeed, the process itself is the punishment.
Though I was fearful, I knew my worry was incomparable to the Palestinians of Gaza or the West Bank, and so I made the responding call. Astonishingly, the officer I spoke to expressed surprise at the severe disproportionality of the referral, noting how very unusual it was for them to receive a Prevent referral, on behalf of an entire NHS Trust, against an individual person, who doesn’t even work for them. The officer informed me that my social media had been assessed, nothing of concern had been found, and they had closed the case. However, they wanted to warn me that it appeared someone was out there wanting to get me. My reply: I know.
Purpose of harassment and accountability
The relentless, reckless harassment, all to the purpose of intimidating silencing and stoking fear, was intentional and targeted. It is intended to keep us from speaking the truth while the war machine churns and business interests are appeased.
As we can see from Israel’s incessant war crimes, crimes against humanity, and inflicting unprecedented horrors, like massacring people as they collect aid – the genocide continues because no one has been held accountable.
For us in the UK, the referrals need to stop.
Collective and legal action
Our trauma is not our fault, but it is our responsibility, and on that premise, I have decided to take legal action against the Trust, with the representation of the solicitor Liana Wood from Leigh Day.
The Trust and the NHS, must be forced to recognise that harassment of those speaking truth in the face of oppression, in the face of Zionism, and in the face of White Supremacy, is unjust and propagates injustice. Destroying a brown Muslim woman’s career, life and family was frankly fair game to the Trust. Clearly, the tenacity of the harassment exposes no expected push back, but they have widely mistaken our character.
I call upon the conscientious community, to support this cause for the sake of us all, to send a message to all NHS Trusts, of solidarity not just with the Palestinians, but with those who care about life, love and dignity. For the right to state that what is wrong is wrong, no matter who it angers. For the right to imagine a world without apartheid, occupation, colonialism, greed or plunder. For the right to support, in the ways in which we can, a community of compassion, of shared responsibility for each other, of safety for all, and of a Free Palestine.
Fatimah Mohamied, Muslim, Midwife and Mother.
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