Helsinki court fines man for racial abuse of 'Husu' Hussein

Helsinki Councilor Abdirahim 'Husu' Hussein (SDP) won a case in court stemming from racial abuse perpetrated against him in 2019.

The Helsinki District Court has convicted a man as a result of an incident in which Hussein was a victim while working as a taxi driver.

According to the account of the events published by the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle), the city councilor picked up three passengers and during the journey one of them intimidated him with racial slurs because of his skin color and his country of birth (Somalia), and also with alleged claims that all immigrants were rapists.

During the trial, the defendant denied the accusations and said that the city councilor, being a politician, should be able to tolerate criticism. But the court ruled that in this case holding a public office is not relevant, and definitely is also not a reason for racist insults.

The court ruled the man has to pay a fine of 1,440 euros.

The case had wide coverage a year and a half ago, after it emerged that Hussein had made up part of the story, with a tweet in which he said he had thrown the abuser out of his taxi. The company Taksi Helsinki confirmed that this was not true, and 'Husu' was suspended from membership in his party.

The court has now ruled that Hussein was right on the most important part of the case, which is that he was the victim of racist abuse.

For the lie, he already apologized a long time ago.