A second Scottish Labour figure was part of an anti-abuse charity that closed after a sexual harassment scandal, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.
A tribunal ruled that staff, volunteers and trustees at Glasgow-based Roshni, which included Faten Hameed, should be provided with diversity and equality training after a female staffer was harassed and victimised.
Official paperwork shows that Hameed, who is contesting Glasgow Central for Labour at Westminster, quit the charity days after the damning judgement.
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Speaking to this newspaper, Hameed said: “During that period, most of the time I was not even in the country.”
“My sister was dying of cancer in Iraq. I had to take her out of Iraq to Istanbul. I more or less left everything here.”
A Sunday Herald investigation last year revealed that Roshni, which was set up to help victims of childhood sexual abuse, closed after a damning employment tribunal against its founder, Ali Khan.
A judge found that a former female staffer, described as 'Miss C', had been the victim of “harassment, victimisation and discrimination” by Ali Khan. He was also found to have made threats to disclose intimate details of Miss C’s personal life.
The charity and Ali Khan were ordered to pay her £74,647, which included £35,000 for injury to feelings and £20,000 for personal injury, but she never received a penny.
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The judgment also criticised one of the charity’s trustees, Asim Khan, who at that point was an aspiring Labour candidate, for not helping the woman:
“We have noted that there was a complete failure on behalf of the Chairman of the First Respondent, Mr Asim Khan to take any steps to protect the claimant…”
The judge also described Asim Khan - who is not related to the founder - as “untruthful” and “evasive”.
Asim Khan, who wanted to become Labour’s candidate in the Glasgow South West seat for Westminster, was removed by Labour from the list of hopefuls for the selection contest.
This newspaper can reveal that another Labour figure, who has been selected as a Westminster candidate, was also involved with the charity.
Hameed, who is part of the Scottish Iraqi Association, was a trustee at Roshni.
Part of the judgement “ordered” Roshni to carry out several tasks, including one that related to charity figures more widely:
“Within two months, to appoint external consultants...to provide all employed staff, volunteers and trustees of the First Respondent [Roshni] with at least six hours training on equality and diversity training issues, with particular emphasis on sexual and religious or belief harassment and victimisation, such training to be carried out within two months of the date of their appointment.”
The ruling was made on August 24th 2016. According to Companies House, Hameed and three other trustees quit the charity six days later.
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It is understood Scottish Labour general secretary Brian Roy asked Hameed a series of questions in June about Roshni, amid the Asim Khan row.
She responded, but Roy informed her that the party’s governing committee had requested more detail, after which she provided further answers. She will contest Glasgow Central, which is currently held by the SNP.
Hameed told the Herald on Sunday: “I am against any abuse, no matter who they are. It is something I am against...Unfortunately, I was not around.”
She confirmed Roy had asked her questions about Roshni, adding that she was not aware of the judgement.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson did not provide a response.
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