A Muslim secretary who was accused of fraud, black magic and bullying by one of Britain’s leading Mosques has been awarded £34,000 at an employment tribunal.
Nahid Mahmoud was forced to endure an 18-month campaign at the Islamic Cultural centre and Central Mosque in London’s Regent Park in which she was accused by a senior member of fraud, black magic, bullying, using dirty words and “wasting valuable office hours in idle conversation”, the Times newspaper reports.
The tribunal heard how the “spiteful” treatment of Nahid Mahmoud, who worked as a secretary to the Mosque’s director-general Ahmed al-Dubayan, by Younes Teinaz, head of administration and human resources at the mosque, amounted to an “exploitation of the weakness of women in Islamic culture”.
Dr Teinaz began his campaign against Mrs Mahmoud after she refused him access to the Mosque noticeboard, the tribunal heard.
She had been instructed by Dr al-Dubayan not to release the key to anyone, but shortly after the refusal Dr Teinaz began his “spiteful and targeted” campaign.
During his campaign he wrote to Dr al-Dubayan complaining that Mrs Mahmoud had breached office regulations by taking time off when her aunt died.
She was accused of making a rape allegation against another member of staff and instructed a worker at the mosque to file a complaint of sexual harassment against her after she made a comment about his eyes.
He also falsely reported her to the police for arranging the marriage of a woman who was already married and admitted searching through her desk to look for “evidence” to back up his claims.
Sheikh Anwar Mady, deputy director-general of the mosque, said the behaviour of Dr Teinaz “amounted to an exploitation of the weakness of women in Islamic culture”.
