The deputy leader of the Green party has demanded an apology from Keir Starmer after the prime minister appeared to back false claims he protested in support of the Iranian regime, which led to him receiving death threats.
Mothin Ali said he was “so scared” that the racist threats had increased to a point where “it feels like this time it 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 that told him to “pack your bags before it’s too late”.
The messages were sent after Ali, a Green party local councillor, attended an anti-war demonstration in Parliament Square on Saturday that was mischaracterised by organisations such as GB News as a rally in support of the Iranian regime.
“It could cost me my life, this kind of story,” he said. “I’m an anti-war activist, I got involved in politics because of anti-war stuff. I was there to call out the illegal attacks [of the US and Israel on Iran] and to raise my voice against Britain getting involved.”
Starmer said in the 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 by the Tory MP Alec Shelbrooke, who said he was “appalled – not shocked, I am afraid to say – as I am sure the prime minister was, to see at the weekend the deputy leader of the Green party once again protesting in support of the ayatollah”. He added: “I am afraid that the Green party has become a magnet for all the people who the prime minister quite rightly kicked out of the Labour party.”
He also appeared, without giving evidence, to link Ali with antisemitism. The claims were protected under parliamentary privilege, which allows MPs to speak freely in the Commons without risk of legal action.
Ali was later defended in parliament by the MP Ellie Chowns, who accused Shelbrooke of “attacking the reputation” of her Green party colleague. She said that he had “attended a CND Stop the War anti-war protest in support of his principles of being anti-war and pro democracy and diplomacy”.
Starmer and Shelbrooke have been contacted for a response.
Prof Abbas Edalat, the founder of CASMII (Campaign Against Sanctions, Military and Imperial Interventions), which organised the demo with support from Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said there were “different tendencies, different ideologies, different positions about the domestic situation in Iran” on Saturday.
However, the claims made in GB News that the event was a rally in support of the regime were false. “It was a rally against the US and Israeli attack, now supported by the UK government, against Iran,” Edalat said. “That was the central slogan, against the illegal, unprovoked attack on Iran.
“The Labour government, by allowing the US to use the military base of the UK in Cyprus, has sided with the US and Israel. It has entered the war of aggression, as it did under Tony Blair with the invasion of Iraq. That’s the bottom line.”
Pictures and videos showed there were a small handful of placards featuring a picture of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with the words “choose the right side of history” from the Islamic Human Rights Commission, a group historically supportive of the regime.
However, the majority held anti-war placards. There were also placards criticising the US president, Donald Trump, alongside Iranian flags and banners representing groups such as the Women of Colour section of Global Women’s Strike and Jewish Network for Palestine. Protesters could be heard chanting: “Labour party, war party.”
Ali said he felt Starmer’s comment was a desperate attempt to discredit the Green party after a major win over Labour last week, when Hannah Spencer became the party’s fifth MP at the Gorton and Denton byelection in Manchester.
“It doesn’t just affect me, it affects my family, it affects everyone’s campaigns I’m supposed to be working on. I’ve got too much work to do and I don’t know how to fight back.”
He was recently abused and followed outside Earl’s Court tube station in London by a member of the public who threatened to “smash my head in”, Ali said.
“I got my phone up to try and record him, 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 that, 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”.
He was falsely accused by far-right agitators online, including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, of participating in unrest in his Harehills ward in 2024, when the opposite was true: he stood in front of police to protect them and stopped local residents engaging in violence.
