correct. Reactions were negative. Katie Wheatley, a criminal law expert, said that if Ahmed had made such claims in Britain he could have faced prosecution for a hate crime. The Labour party immediately suspended him, saying it "deplores and does not tolerate any sort of racism or anti-Semitism." Jewish organisations condemned the comments, with the Board of Deputies of British Jews saying, "We are appalled by Lord Ahmed's alleged comments which recall the worst Jewish conspiracy theories." In contrast, the chairman of the UK-based Kashmir Watch International was reported by The Nation, an English-language Pakistani paper, as saying, "Lord Ahmed has, in fact, been made the target of a deep-rooted vendetta by the rivals – mostly the Jews lobby for his "crime" of exposing the increased anti-Muslim approach and policies of the Jews including their backed British media." Ahmed's initial response was that he had no recollection of making the comments and that he would have to examine the transcripts with his solicitors. On 18 March he resigned from the Joseph Interfaith Foundation as a result of the allegations. At about the same time, he ceased to be a member of the International Expert Team of the Institute Research of Genocide, Canada. Among the pieces written in the immediate aftermath of the revelation was one by Mehdi Hasan in The Huffington Post which claimed that antisemitism within some otherwise well-integrated sections of the British Muslim community was commonplace. In the 28 March interview with Ahmed resulting from this article, Ahmed apologised, describing his comments as "completely unacceptable" and the product of a "twisted mind". He could not explain why he had made the comments. His appearance before Labour's National Executive Committee to determine whether his suspension should be lifted or whether he should be expelled was due to take place on 15 May. On 9 May, it was reported that he was considering preempting the hearing by leaving the Labour Party and on 13 May he resigned from the party. Allegations of sexual impropriety In February 2019, Ahmed was accused of using his position in the House of Lords to have sex with vulnerable women. One of the women, Tahira Zaman, explained how the pair went on to have an intimate sexual relationship after she had approached Ahmed for help with a personal matter in February 2017. A second woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, also alleged that when she