An anti-Israel social media influencer was arrested as a result of her pro-Hamas tweets and charged with terrorism offences under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. She has now been released on bail, with bail conditions including not posting any social media pertaining to religion, domestic or international conflict or war. This follows a report to police by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) about Fiona Ryan’s tweets about the Hamas massacre.
Ryan, who runs a soap making business in Salisbury, called Hamas heroes: On 28 October 2023 at 14.01 she wrote “Many of us DON’T condemn Hamas. These are men who have grown up in a concentration camp and found a way to bust out. They are hero’s” [sic]
She said Hamas did nothing wrong when it massacred 1200 Israelis. On 28 October 2023 at 14.03 she wrote: “Gaza had the right to defend themselves. All the “poor innocent Israelis” harmed by Hamas were on illegally occupied land. Hamas did nothing wrong and the death toll has been grossly exaggerated.”
She also said Hamas had every right to remove Israelis who were living in Israel, and denied that Hamas had killed them. On 28 October 2023 at 15.55 she wrote: “All the people who were allegedly killed (coz there’s very limited evidence many were killed at all, plus eye witness says they were killed by Israel) were on illegally occupied territory. Hamas had every right to remove them, anyway it saw fit.”
These three posts showed that Fiona Ryan expressed the opinion or belief that she was supportive of Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation. UKLFI argues that the messages breach s.12(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
Ms Ryan also expressed her hatred of Israelis, and her wish to destroy Israel. On 30 October, in response to a tweet from someone saying that Oman has banned any Israeli aircraft from flying over its airspace, she wrote: “Ideally this will happen globally and the satanists will be stranded.”
On around 30 October in response to a tweet that China has removed Israel from its online maps, she replied “Good. Now we just need to wipe them off the map physically”
Ms Ryan, who posts innumerable videos on her TikTok account, has described how she was arrested, put in a van and driven to a police station over an hour away. She described how she refused to withdraw her support for Hamas, and will now face a court trial.
She has posted her bail conditions on her social media. Her bail conditions are:
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Not to post any social media post that pertains to religion, domestic or international conflict or war on any social media platform
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Not to make any new username/s on any social media platform
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To make readily available to any police officer, police staff or any other eligible person employed in a law enforcement capability in the United Kingdom any electronic device in your possession or that you own or use at any time at that persons request, for inspection.