A Muslim activist who served a prison sentence for his role in an overseas terror plot is now seeking elected office in Birmingham, Britain’s second-largest city, as local elections approach amid heightened communal tensions.
Shahid Butt was convicted by a Yemeni court in 1999 and sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of forming an armed gang and conspiring to bomb the British consulate in Aden, an Anglican church and a Swiss-owned hotel in Yemen. At the time, Yemeni prosecutors said the group had been sent to carry out violence by Abu Hamza, the extremist preacher who was the father of one of the convicted men.
He is now standing as a candidate for the newly formed Independent Candidates Alliance in the May 7 Birmingham City Council elections.
Butt maintains his innocence, claiming his confession was coerced through torture, and that evidence against him was planted, The Daily Telegraph reported.
He will contest the Sparkhill ward, an area where nearly two-thirds of residents are of Pakistani background, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Butt’s candidacy comes as Birmingham — home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.K. — has faced renewed strains over foreign policy, identity politics and public order. Those tensions came into sharp focus last November when Israeli soccer club Maccabi Tel Aviv played Aston Villa in a Europa Conference League match.
Ahead of the game, Butt used social media to call on Muslims from around the country to travel to Birmingham to show solidarity with Palestinians and to prevent the Israeli team’s supporters from, in his words, ‘desecrating’ and ‘dirtying’ the city. In one post, he referred to the visiting fans as ‘IDF babykillers,’ according to Birmingham Live.
Authorities ultimately barred Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters from attending the match, citing security concerns, after large-scale protests were planned.
In a video posted from a protest connected to the fixture, Butt made comments that critics say crossed from political speech into the endorsement of violence. ‘Muslims are not pacifists,’ Butt said in the video. ‘If somebody comes into your face, you knock his teeth out — that’s my message to the youth.’
Emma Schubart, a researcher at the Henry Jackson Society, said the developments reveal deeper fractures within British society. ‘Shahid Butt, a convicted terrorist, is standing for election in a ward that is around 80% Muslim. Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from the second-largest city in the U.K. which is now nearly a third Muslim,’ Schubart said.
‘Politically,’ she added, ‘These events foreshadow a likely Muslim sectarian sweep in the local elections, since candidates like Butt are poised to erode Labour’s hold on seats throughout Birmingham.’
The Independent Candidates Alliance was founded by activists Akhmed Yakoob and Shakeel Afsar, both of whom ran unsuccessfully in Birmingham constituencies during the 2024 general election on a pro-Gaza platform. The group is expected to field candidates in around 20 wards across the city.