The Conservative Youth Group Activate have falsely accused Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of holding a meeting with Bashar al-Assad in the midst of the brutal Syrian Civil War in 2016 – and even after the Syrian President had been accused of numerous counts of war-crimes.
The Tory Youth Group – who were set up in an attempt to copy the hugely successful pro-Jeremy Corbyn grassroots group Momentum – made the incredible, and entirely false, accusation in an attack video posted to their social media accounts today.
Activate’s potentially libellous video – which they entitled ‘Jeremy Corbyn: Backing extremists since 1983‘ – lists numerous smears on the Labour leader including linking him with terrorist organisations such as the IRA and Hezbollah.
The video then goes on to state that:
“In 2013 President Assad of Syria launched a chemical weapons attack on his own people.”
Whilst the United Nations fact-finding mission report into the 2013 incident found definitive evidence that chemical weapons were used in Ghouta, it stopped short of apportioning outright blame onto Syrian President Assad. However, the leader of the UN mission noted that the Syrian government’s arguments that rebels may have staged the attack were “unconvincing”, and resting in part upon “poor theories”. Furthermore, the investigation led to a UN resolution being agreed by Russia and the US demanding that the Syrian regime destroy their entire chemical weapons stockpiles – a destruction which was independently verified as being completed by the OPCW in January 2016.
Despite the lack of definitive evidence to prove their first statement, Activate’s next statement is certainly an outright lie, going on to say that:
“In 2016 Jeremy Corbyn visited Assad in an event funded by Palestinian Lobbyists.”
Yes, you read that correctly. The Conservative Youth Group Activate are accusing Jeremy Corbyn of visiting the President of Syria in the midst of a brutal and bloody civil war, and after the Syrian President had been accused of numerous chemical weapons attacks on civilians – a disgraceful accusation against Corbyn which is wholeheartedly false, and almost certainly libellous.
Activate’s disgraceful fake news is not just a case of getting their dates wrong as one might assume. Because Jeremy Corbyn did meet President Assad in 2009 – two years before the Civil War had begun.
But – and here’s a crucial fact that the disingenuous Tory Youth Group definitely didn’t want to publish – Corbyn’s meeting with Assad in 2009 was as part of a delegation which was literally headed by a senior Tory peer!
Yes, Corbyn was part of a delegation of numerous British MPs to visit Syria on behalf of the Palestinian Return Centre – a group who campaign for the rights of Palestinian refugees.
The Conservative Peer leading the delegation – Lord Sheikh – also reportedly thanked President Assad during the trip for Syria’s help in housing more than half a million displaced Palestinians since 1948 when the state of Israel was founded.
Furthermore, a total of nine Tory MPs received hospitality from the Syrian President since 2003.
The false accusation made by Activate against Corbyn comes just days after their Director Sam Ancliff issued a hilarious threat to sue media organisation Vice after one of their reporters infiltrated Activate’s launch event and published hugely embarrassing information about what he witnessed.
Evolve Politics have contacted Activate Director Sam Ancliff to ascertain whether the Tory group are intending to remove their false statement about Jeremy Corbyn and Assad.
As yet, Mr Ancliff has not responded.
Below is Activate’s disgraceful video, complete with its potentially libellous accusation against Corbyn.
Should the above video not be accessible, it almost certainly means Activate have removed it. Therefore, we have republished the video as a precaution below:
