NHS doctor accused of inviting support for Hamas appears in court - as details of alleged messages heard

An NHS doctor has appeared in court charged with inviting support for Hamas, including an allegation that she posted a message to "free the world from Jewish supremacy" on social media.

Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, 31, from Pilning, South Gloucestershire, is yet to enter a plea on six charges and spoke only to confirm her identity at the Old Bailey on Friday.

She is charged with four counts of inviting support for the proscribed organisation by posting comments online between July and December last year.

The British Palestinian is also accused of stirring up racial hatred by using threatening or abusive insulting words at a protest in July in Westminster, and separately through written material in November.

The court heard details of messages she allegedly posted online following an investigation by the Public Order Crime Team at the Metropolitan Police.

It is alleged she wrote: "I don't condemn Hamas. I don't condemn October 7," and "I condemn the existence of Israel" in a post on 23 July.

On 31 December, it is alleged she posted: "Free the world from Jewish supremacy."

Meanwhile, on the second anniversary of the October 7 attack, she allegedly posted an image of a bulldozer along with text reading: "Glory to the Palestinian resistance."

Aladwan was arrested at her home and charged with six offences on 26 March.

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Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a trial at Bristol Crown Court in March next year.

A date for a plea hearing has yet to be confirmed, but has been provisionally set for August.

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