A legal watchdog is starting an investigation
Shamima Begum’s former lawyer is set to be investigated by the legal watchdog after a tweet he wrote regarding the Taliban takeover of Kabul.
In the tweet, which he has now deleted, Tasnime Akunjee shared a picture of Taliban fighters in the presidential palace of Kabul with the caption ‘The boys are back in town.’
He then followed this up with a link to the Thin Lizzy tune.
Unsurprisingly, many found this to be “disgracefully insensitive” considering the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in Afghanistan.
One person replied: “The fact that you make light of what’s a terrible situation where millions are now going to be brutally repressed reflects poorly on you.”
A number of people tagged the Law Society underneath the post, with one writing: “This is disgracefully insensitive from one of your members.”
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has now confirmed that it is looking into the tweet.
An SRA spokesperson said: “We are aware and are gathering information before considering any next steps.”
Lawyer Akunjee shared an image of the Taliban taking control of the presidential palace in Kabul, along with the caption ‘The boys are back in town’ (Picture: Al Jazeera)After the backlash to the tweet, Akunjee claimed that he was being ironic, writing: “I see a bunch of people are purportedly upset at the ‘the boys are back’ tweet earlier today – let’s look at the sort of people who possess no concept of irony.”
The lawyer then shared some of the racist messages that he was receiving, suggesting that people must have been acting “purposely dense” over his tweet.
He added: “The Boys Are Back in Town is a song about a criminal gang (The Quality Street Gang Manchester) who have returned following a sojourn…. this is controversial re the Taliban how exactly?”
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He later told the Metro: “Looks like people would rather misinterpret an ironic tweet citing Thin Lizzy than engage with the real issues of spectacular policy failure by the US and UK in Afghanistan over the last two decades.”
Akunjee made headlines after choosing to represent the families of the three girls, including Shamima Begum, who fled the UK to join ISIS in 2015.
This year he also defended Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi against far-right activist Tommy Robinson in a libel dispute. In the outcome of this trial, Robinson was ordered to pay Hijazi £100,000 in damages after falsely claiming he had attacked “young English girls” at school.
