GP who leads proscribed Islamist group suspended by NHS

The National Secular Society has raised concerns with the doctors' regulator over a GP who heads a newly outlawed terrorist group.

Dr Wahid Shaida (pictured), also known as 'Abdul Wahid', is the leader of the Islamist group Hizb-ut Tahrir Britain which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation last week. This week he was suspended by NHS England, but he is still registered with the General Medical Council (GMC), which regulates doctors throughout the UK.

He had worked as a GP in north London but is no longer listed on his surgery's website.

The NSS told the GMC that Shaida has made extremist statements, including during an interview where he described Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel as giving "the enemy a punch on the nose, all right, and it's a very welcome punch on the nose".

Shaida also said on Facebook that Muslims who publicly condemned the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie in 2022 had been "forced" to do so in order "to have acceptability in liberal societies".

Hizb-ut Tahrir "actively promotes and encourages terrorism"

The NSS also highlighted the views of Hizb-ut Tahrir itself. In one Hizb-ut Tahrir Britain video, while Shaida was present and watching, member Luqman Muqeem says the "UK will no longer be able to pump its liberal filth, its LGBT filth, its feminist filth into the heart of the Muslim world".

Muqeem also said the October 7 attack "made us all very, very happy".

The decision to proscribe Hizb-ut Tahrir Britain as a terrorist organisation was approved by both houses of parliament last week.

The Home Secretary James Cleverly said "Hizb ut-Tahrir is an antisemitic organisation that actively promotes and encourages terrorism, including praising and celebrating the appalling 7 October attacks."

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said "Hizb ut-Tahrir clearly encourage and promote terrorism.

"Their celebration of Hamas' appalling attacks on Israel, going so far as to call the terrorists who raped and murdered Israeli citizens 'heroes', is disgraceful", he added.

Extremism in healthcare

Last year the NSS raised concerns after NHS chaplain Suliman Gani met with the Taliban's Minister of Foreign Affairs and praised the Taliban's "amazing vision" which "really touched [his] heart".

Parliament's Select Committee on International Relations and Defence says the Taliban remains closely associated with the Haqqani Network, "which is designated by the UK Government as a proscribed terrorist organisation".

Gani has previously described homosexuality as "unnatural" and women as "subservient". The NSS understands he remains in post.

NSS: "Extremism has no place in our NHS"

NSS campaigns officer Dr Alejandro Sanchez said: "Dr Shaida's leadership of a terrorist organisation, in addition to his public pronouncements on the October 7 attack and the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, are entirely incompatible with his duties as a doctor.

"Extremism has no place in our NHS. We therefore welcome NHS England's decision to suspend him.

"The GMC should now think carefully about whether the leader of a proscribed terrorist group is a fit person to be a doctor."