A trainee doctor has filed a legal claim against NHS Education for Scotland (NES) after she was told to stop displaying a Palestinian flag at work.
Dr Tamara Ali is a Muslim Arab working for a GP practice as part of her training. She had been wearing a small Palestinian flag pin badge at work and placed a small Palestine flag in a plant pot in her consulting room.
In March 2025, the practice asked her to remove the flag after an anonymous patient complaint described the flag as being connected to “terrorism”.
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Dr Ali was then confronted by four senior doctors in front of colleagues, who she says made “comparisons made between the Palestine flag and Nazi/MAGA extremist symbols”.
She was warned that escalating the issue could affect her training progression and fitness to practise.
“I was informed that while rainbow lanyards and other historically permitted symbols such as the Ukraine flag were fine, a Palestine pin was unacceptable,” she explains on her Crowdjustice page, set up to help fund her legal fees.
“For months, I was left isolated, anxious, and excluded from workplace spaces I had previously felt part of.
“Throughout, I continued my duties to patients without interruption. But I was silenced and punished for upholding my ethical and professional responsibility to advocate for those facing genocide”
She is being represented by Rahman Lowe Solicitors, which last year represented Professor David Miller, who won an unfair dismissal case against the University of Bristol. The sociology professor successfully claimed that he was discriminated against for his belief that Zionism is “inherently racist, imperialist and colonial”.
Jahad Rahman, a partner at the firm, said her case was “not an isolated case and is about more than one doctor in Scotland”.
“It’s about whether NHS staff can be punished for peaceful expression. The flag represents the Palestinian people and by displaying it, Dr Ali was simply manifesting her protected beliefs, both religious and philosophical.
“If showing a national flag is treated as ‘terrorism,’ it clearly risks eroding both equality rights, and the freedoms of speech and belief in the workplace. The case raises serious issues about the suppression of those fundamental rights, which are under threat,” he explained.
“We are challenging a discriminatory policy that contravenes equality law and core NHS values. Normalising discrimination under the guise of neutrality is unacceptable and Dr Ali is not prepared to allow such conduct to go unchallenged.”
Dr Ali believes her case could have national significance in Scotland for the rights of healthcare workers to voice their beliefs. She added: “It is about whether healthcare workers are free to live up to our professional values – compassion, care, inclusivity, and advocacy – or whether these values only apply selectively.
“Healthcare workers across the UK are being censored for speaking up about Gaza. My case is one of the first to go on the offence here in Scotland – holding institutions accountable instead of being left on the defensive.”
A midwife in England is also taking a case to employment tribunal after she was reported to her regulator for voicing support for Palestinian people in Gaza.
Fatimah Mohamied is bringing a claim against Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust after her employer referred her to the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the anti-terrorism body Prevent. Both referrals were dismissed, but caused her “severe distress and alarm”.
In June, three NHS workers launched legal action against Barts Health NHS Trust, arguing that its new dress code, which led to one being told to remove a watermelon background image, constitutes discrimination because of their pro-Palestinian beliefs.
Earlier this month, Scotland’s first minister John Swinney publicly condemned the attacks in Gaza and expressed support for formal recognition of the Palestinian State.
Dr Ali’s claim is of discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, religion and belief. She has also filed a claim of suppression on freedom of expression, contrary to the Equality Act 2010 and the European Convention of Human Rights.
The claim has been lodged with the Glasgow employment tribunal and a date for her hearing will be set in due course. A spokesperson for NES told The Times newspaper that the organisation did not discuss individual employment matters.
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