Tory MP Bob Stewart has denied racially abusing a man after he allegedly told him to “go back to Bahrain”.
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after a complaint was made by activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who has said he is living in exile after being tortured in the Gulf state.
The MP for Beckenham in south-east London is said to have told Mr Alwadaei during an angry confrontation on 14 December last year to “get stuffed” and that he is “taking money off my country”.
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He was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence over the alleged incident outside the Foreign Office’s Lancaster House.
Stewart, 74, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday to plead not guilty.
The MP also denied an alternative count of using threatening or abusive words or behaviour likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress.
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The Met said the second charge is to allow the court discretion on the racial element of the allegation and does not relate to a separate incident.
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A one-day trial has been fixed for 3 November at the same court.
Mr Stewart was elected to parliament in 2010 and serves on a number of parliamentary committees, including the Northern Ireland affairs committee and the intelligence and security committee.
Before becoming an MP he was an Army officer for 26 years and served in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.
He kept the Tory whip after being charged.
Mr Alwadaei, 37, who said he was tortured after taking part in anti-government protests in the country, is the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy.
