A MAN charged with a hate crime after an anti- “Zionist” poster was hung in his cafe window has been acquitted.
Mohammed El Ayeb, the owner of the now-closed Moski’s cafe in Leith, was acquitted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday, his lawyers said.
The cafe had made headlines in June 2024, including in the Israeli paper of record Haaretz, after displaying a poster reading: “Declare Leith a Zionist free zone.”
The poster was created by local campaigners linked to the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) international trade union.
In a statement in 2025, the ZFLeith campaign wrote on social media: “The owner of Moski's Cafe, one of the first small businesses to support our Zionist Free Leith campaign, has been charged for displaying our campaign poster in their window.
“This is a blatant overreach by the justice system aimed at silencing criticism of Zionism.”
Aamer Anwar, the human rights lawyer who served as El Ayeb’s principal solicitor, said on Wednesday that he had been acquitted of hate crime charges.
El Ayeb had been charged under legislation making it an offence to “communicate to another person material that a reasonable person would consider threatening or abusive whereby you intended to stir up hatred against a group of persons based on the group being defined by religion or, in the case of a social or cultural group, perceived religious affiliations”.
Anwar went on: “In delivering his verdict, the Sheriff Walls made it clear that the case was not about Zionism or Judaism, but whether the Crown had proven beyond reasonable doubt that a criminal offence had been committed under the legislation. The court concluded that the Crown had failed to meet that burden.
“While the Sheriff accepted that a Crown witness was a credible and reliable witness and understood why he personally found the poster offensive as a Jewish Zionist, the Court did not find that the poster itself was threatening or abusive within the meaning of the Act.”
He added: “Throughout the trial, defence lawyer Robbie Cole maintained that the poster did not constitute an offence and had nothing to do with antisemitism. The Sheriff agreed with our submissions that the Crown had failed to prove an intent to stir up hatred against Jews.”
Cole said the acquittal “represents an important outcome for freedom of expression and the protection of political speech”.
Anwar added: “It is deeply worrying that in a democracy that cases such as these are being brought to court by Police Scotland under hate crime laws.
“Following today’s verdict we will be asking both the Chief Constable and Lord Advocate to review their guidelines for pursuing such cases.”
In 2024, when the poster first made headlines, staff at Moski’s cafe told Edinburgh Live: "As an establishment in the Leith area, we welcome anyone who would like to use our window space for posters, adverts, political parties etc.
"At Moskis we do not discriminate against race, religion, sexual orientation or nationality and I am quite saddened to see the response by some members of the community claiming that we do not allow ‘Jews to enter’.
"This is quite a serious accusation. Not all Jewish people are in support of the Israeli government's actions and I would like their views to also be heard on the matter and of course, again, everyone is welcome.
"We encourage an open table discussion for everyone to express their views and opinions."
