Teenager to ‘sue his school’ over bullying claims
A SYRIAN schoolboy suing far right campaigner Tommy Robinson for libel was taunted with racist abuse at his Huddersfield school as part of a ‘campaign of bullying,’ according to court documents.
Jamal Hijazi, 17, has brought a claim against Robinson after he alleged in two Facebook videos that Jamal ‘violently attacks young English girls in his school.’
This came after footage of the teenager being attacked at Almondbury Community School (ACS) went viral in 2018.
On Wednesday, the High Court heard that Jamal and his family fled the civil war in Syria and lived in a refugee camp in Lebanon for three years, before resettling in Huddersfield in October 2016.
In his witness statement, Jamal said he joined ACS at the age of 13, with very poor English, and was met with hostility from some other pupils.
During the hearing the family revealed they blamed ACS for not taking action while Jamal told the court he wants to sue the school also when the trial against Robinson is over.
He wrote: “I faced a lot of issues when I was at the school, including a campaign of bullying and attempts by other students to make me unhappy, so I would go home.”
During the High Court hearing, Robinson was able to personally cross examine the youngster as he has not hired legal representation.
“Do you believe, Jamal, Almondbury was a racist school?” he asked.
Jamal said ‘yes,’ and added that, when he reported incidents of alleged bullying, ‘it felt like there was nothing happening.’
Asked by Robinson whether he was planning to sue Almondbury Community School, Jamal replied: “Yes, I’m going to.”
Jamal said the attack in the viral video was not isolated and detailed other incidents, including being threatened with a knife in November 2017. He said his sister Fariha was also bullied.
In his statement to the court, Jamal’s father Jihad Hijazi wrote: “This was the worst experience I have been through in my life. “I wished I had died in the war with my family and not seen my children suffer from bullying.”
Jamal also said in his statement he had ‘no idea’ about Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, before the Facebook videos were made.
I faced a lot of issues when I was at school, including a campaign
of bullying