Jailed: Man who emailed Labour MP Jess Phillips saying ‘burn in hell’

A man who emailed Labour MP Jess Phillips saying ‘hell is real, and you will burn’ has been jailed.

Nabil Arif, 36, sent Ms Phillips abusive messages relating to the war between Israel and Hamas between October 13 2023 and February 20 this year.

In a victim impact statement read out to the court, Ms Phillips expressed fear that Arif’s aggression towards her might escalate and potentially lead to her coming to physical harm at his hands.

The MP for Birmingham Yardley since 2015 said his actions had changed her life ‘immeasurably’ and ‘limited my freedom and my ability to do my job closely with the public as I used to do’.

The final email, which prompted her to report Arif to the police, was sent on February 20 and called her ‘pathetic’, adding that she would ‘burn until her skin is no more’.

Arif, from Birmingham, was sentenced on Monday at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court to 12 weeks in custody and was also made subject to a restraining order barring him from contacting the MP until further notice.

He was convicted of sending, by public communication network, an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message or matter following a trial at the same court on July 29.

Richard Purchase of the Crown Prosecution Service said: ‘Members of Parliament have a right to perform their duties and represent their constituents without being subjected to derogatory messages that cause alarm and distress.

‘It is clear that Nabil Arif’s behaviour escalated from the initial emails, leading Ms Phillips to fear for her safety.

‘The CPS acted promptly to secure a conviction against Arif to prevent further offending.

‘I hope this case serves as a reminder that we take offences like these seriously and are committed to holding perpetrators accountable for their actions.’

This case comes after Ms Phillips has faced an onslaught of abuse and intimidation from pro-Palestine activists since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.

The abuse has come despite Ms Phillips being the most high-profile Labour MP to resign from the frontbench in November to back an SNP motion calling for a ceasefire.

Her seat in Birmingham Yardley has a high percentage of Muslims and pro-Palestine supporters who pushed her to do more on the issue.

After re-winning her seat she said in her victory speech the campaign had been ‘pretty gruesome’ and that it was ‘the worst election I have ever stood in’ – only to be drowned out by boos and chants of ‘Free Palestine’. 

It sparked a furious response from Ms Phillips, who yelled back from the stage: ‘I understand that a strong woman standing up to you is met with such reticence’ before pointing at them and saying: ‘Can you throw them out?’ 

The politician, who narrowly clung onto her seat beating a pro-Palestine independent by just 693, said one of her volunteers had been ‘screamed at by a much older man’ while campaigning and had her tyres slashed.

She also declined the help from the family of murdered MP Jo Cox due to the spike in violence during the six-week campaign.

She also thanked West Midlands Police for their response to the ‘aggression that we have suffered’ during the six-week campaign.

Due to the ugliness between the candidates leading up to the election, Ms Phillips even decided for her children to stay at home as she secured victory once again, after first being elected in 2015.

She added: ‘I didn’t bring my children here tonight, because I knew this would happen and they deserve better.

‘It’s been pretty gruelling here, I’m afraid to say some of my opponents did not reflect at all the manner in which some of my constituents behaved which was with decorum and class.’

The general election saw five new independent Pro-Gaza MPs, including Jeremy Corbyn, win their seats after campaigning on a Free Palestine mandate.

When asked about the incident on LBC after the shocking scenes, Ms Phillips was still visibly angry about the ‘aggression’ she had suffered after the vote count and during canvassing.

She told the programme: ‘These people were standing on a platform of helping the people of Gaza. It’s too simple to say it was sectarian. People are desperate for me to announce that the people who were shouting at me and barracking me were Muslim men.

‘The fact they were men is actually quite significant to me. The fact that they were Muslim is not significant because there are Muslim people in my constituency who didn’t behave like this.

‘These people were idiots. They didn’t do it because they were Muslim, they did it because they were idiots and they wanted something for themselves and they used a terrible tragedy to get that.’

The MP went on to add that those taking such a strong stance against her – resorting to aggression at times – were doing so to ‘drive content’ on social media apps, such as TikTok.

‘Everything was about driving content so these people weren’t ashamed of the way they were behaving they were doing it, then filming themselves and putting it on the internet,’ Ms Phillips added.

‘When Sadiq Khan came, men wearing masks shouting – I won’t say what they are saying because it’s a family show – shouting stuff about Sadiq Khan’s mother and they are not ashamed. They are putting it on the internet to incite other people to do the same.’