The NUS said Dalali was removed from the presidency this week after an independent investigation into the allegations found “significant breaches of NUS policies” – but that it would not disclose further details due to employee confidentiality. A statement from Carter-Ruck lawyers on behalf of Dallali said it was “examining all available legal avenues” to challenge her dismissal. The statement said the NUS move followed a disciplinary panel hearing in late October. It came after the union received details of the investigation into allegations against Dalali commissioned earlier this year. “Ms Dallali rejects the findings of the disciplinary panel as she denied the allegations. “He thinks that the [investigation] The process constituted – and continues to constitute – discriminatory treatment of her as a black Muslim woman and of her beliefs about the plight of the Palestinian people,” the statement said. Accusations against Dalali following her election in March included a 2012 tweet that referred to a historic massacre of Jews. The statement noted that Dalali had “already apologized for an inappropriate tweet”, adding: “She had also made it clear that the other tweets for which she had been criticized (all of which were before her election to the NUS role) they were not antisemitic. “Both before and during her tenure as president. Ms Dallali has repeatedly made clear her opposition to all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism, while continuing to campaign to denounce the plight of the Palestinian people.” Dallali’s cause was supported by the Muslim Council of Britain, which said the NUS decision was “deeply worrying”. “Those calling for her summary dismissal, in concert with those who have made this decision, have little to say about the barrage of Islamophobic abuse directed at Shaima. “Many Muslim students fear the Islamophobia they face on campus. This decision will reinforce these fears and raise questions about their place in the NUS. They are owed an explanation,” the MCB said. The Federation of Students Islamic Societies (FOSIS) said the NUS was “no longer an organization that takes Muslims or Islamophobia seriously”. “Therefore, FOSIS calls on all Islamic societies, friends and those who oppose Islamophobia to organize and lead anti-NUS privacy campaigns on their campuses,” the group said. Dalali, a former student union president at City University of London, was elected NUS president for a two-year term from July. But in August, he was suspended from the role as a result of the allegations and complaints from the Union of Jewish Students (UJS). UJS said it “respects NUS’s decision to sack its president”, adding: “Antisemitism in the student movement goes beyond the actions of any one individual and this case is symptomatic of a wider problem.”
