Law graduate launches private prosecution bid against Dominic Cummings. Will you help fund it?

Mahsa Taliefar: she has already received abuse from supporters of Dominic Cummings. Have a guess at their reasons – then scroll down through the article to see if you’re right.

How will the populist, propagandist supporters of our far-right government de-legitimise Mahsa Taliefar, the 25-year-old law graduate who wants to take Dominic Cummings to court?

Well, for a start she has a foreign-sounding name (her background is Iranian), so obviously she’ll be trying to harm all good, right(-wing)-thinking British people, right?

And from the photograph she’s physically attractive, so she’ll be talked down as a know-nothing bimbo (qualifications notwithstanding).

Undoubtedly Gina Miller will be able to provide advice on some of the other ways.

Oh hey! It’s already happening:

She has … been targeted by abuse and misogynistic comments from Dominic Cummings’ supporters on social media.

“I have been subjected to nasty comments about my facial features and hairstyle,” she said.

“There have also been many Cummings supporters who have suggested that the money may be going towards aesthetic lip fillers and hair maintenance.

“I find this totally unacceptable. This campaign has nothing to do with my gender or looks. Many people supporting Dominic Cummings have also aggressively told me to ‘move on’ – but we should not until he does.”

Ms Taliefar – like those of us who know right from wrong – was incensed by Cummings’s decision to ignore lockdown rules and drive off to Durham with his wife and son.

These feelings were undoubtedly aggravated by his decision to (again) ignore rules – this time relating to government advisers – to hold a press conference in which he defended his behaviour.

So she has launched a funding campaign to help her launch a private prosecution against Cummings.

“It was like Dominic Cummings was spitting in the face of everyone who adhered to the lockdown,” she said.

“People were not able to see their families and friends and were not even able to bury their loved ones and grieve properly.

“This is because we were all following the laws that were put into place to protect the public.

“Dominic Cummings had a direct hand in the making of those Covid laws and I was extremely offended when he didn’t even apologise for breaking the rules – he seemed very arrogant and there were people in government standing by him.”

She makes good points about the insult Cummings’s behaviour represents to people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds:

Mahsa, who is from an Iranian background, says Dominic Cummings’ behaviour is also a kick in the teeth for people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities who have been harder hit by coronavirus and are more likely to die of it.

“People from ethnic minority backgrounds are affected more by this virus and have less money and resources and are less likely to have powerful friends and connections,” she said. “Everything Dominic Cummings has, most people from ethnic minorities don’t.

“That makes me angry as when people from ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by coronavirus, why should someone well off and more powerful put other people’s lives at risk by breaking his own laws?

“People from ethnic minority backgrounds also tend to have more people in our households and a lot of families have grandparents living with them. So it is really difficult for these communities to understand why someone like Dominic Cummings would travel so far and potentially put his parents at risk.”

Ms Taliefar reckons it will cost £300,000 to take a lawsuit all the way – and any funds not used for the private prosecution will be donated to Vision Aid Overseas – a charity dedicated to helping those with eyesight problems.

Here’s that GoFundMe campaign address again. With no interest in justice from the government, it seems this is the best way to get it.

Source: Law Graduate Pursues Private Prosecution Of ‘Arrogant’ Dominic Cummings | HuffPost UK

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56 Comments

  1. SteveH June 22, 2020 at 11:15 pm - Reply

    I’d rather just donate to the charity, at least I would know that my money was being put to good use rather than being wasted on this doomed project.

    • Martin McGowan June 23, 2020 at 9:10 am - Reply

      Doomed project? You just need to re-read the prime ministers letter to the nation and the brochure that came with it to know that Doms behaviour in taking that trip was against the rules and no excuses by the ministers etc can change that.

      • Alf June 23, 2020 at 11:49 am - Reply

        You are reading it differently to me then matey … i agree that his outing to Barnard Castle was ill thought out, but the trip north in the cirumstances wasnt an issue to anyone other that the leftie pinko media

        • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:53 pm - Reply

          “The leftie pinko media”? Oh dear – you’ve given yourself away there! The trip north, in the circumstances described by Cummings, was entirely unacceptable and broke the terms of two Acts of Parliament. He’s a criminal being allowed to go unconvicted by the government because he’s their mate (or their boss, depending whose opinion you accept).

        • martinmac2002 June 24, 2020 at 9:33 am - Reply

          para 5 of BoJo’s letter stated. “That is why we are giving one simple instruction-you must stay at home” next para you should not meet friends or relatives who do not live in your home. Yes I do still have the letter and the brochure. He definitely broke the rules big time.

      • SteveH June 23, 2020 at 1:14 pm - Reply

        I think this is a non starter and a complete waste of money. I have better things to do with my money than boosting some wannabe lawyers linkedin profile.

        See my comment below (1:02pm) about the restrictions on who is permitted to bring prosecutions.

        • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:59 pm - Reply

          Shame on you for denigrating Ms Taliefar’s intentions. What makes you so convinced that her intentions are self-serving?

          • SteveH June 23, 2020 at 4:09 pm

            Perhaps if she had displayed a little more faith in her own argument.

            In her interview on RT I thought she came across as being naïve, imprecise and ill prepared. It made me wonder if she’d actually got round to reading the relevant Acts before embarking on this quest. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeRg68msoxg

            As I’ve said below in my 1:02pm comment I doubt this will ever get to court.

          • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 8:48 pm

            And it reads like you’re trying to justify your attitude after announcing it.

          • SteveH June 23, 2020 at 9:29 pm

            Mike – I guess we will just have to wait and see who’s instincts are proven to be right. Please feel free to bring it to my attention and tell me “I told you so” if she ever gets her day in court.

          • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 9:40 pm

            Glad to.

            Of course it’s easy to say, “This will never happen,” when somebody of limited means is challenging a national government, and expect to be proved right; merely saying it will discourage people from even trying. But people are winning court battles against the government all the time: look at the four working women who won against the government in the Court of Appeal this week.

            Maybe it would have been better for you to hold off commenting and just wait and see for yourself?

          • SteveH June 23, 2020 at 10:02 pm

            Mike – The big difference is that the four women who you refer to actually had a substantive case to bring with a clear objective. If my words have made anyone think twice about wasting their money on this nonsense then I will consider it a job well done.

          • Mike Sivier June 29, 2020 at 1:06 pm

            Now that we know there is a substantive case against Cummings, with a clear objective, would you consider withdrawing your ill-chosen words and supporting this prosecution?

  2. Julie Ann Zabinski June 23, 2020 at 4:47 am - Reply

    Absolutely no way. Don;t trust GoFundMe after the series of scandals that it has been involved in. And why spend 300,000 quid on this? Would be better spent on a real cause.

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:43 pm - Reply

      Why do you think this isn’t a real cause? Cummings disregarded the rules we all had to obey because he decided he knew better (he didn’t) and because he decided they didn’t apply to him (they did).

      • Phillip cooper June 23, 2020 at 11:38 pm - Reply

        Have you not look at the other mps that have also done this and Barry Gardiner

        • Mike Sivier June 24, 2020 at 1:14 am - Reply

          Have you not read This Site before?

  3. Elizabeth MacQueen June 23, 2020 at 7:57 am - Reply

    She’s just out to make a name for herself. What a load of rubbish. DC matter is done & dusted. Move on.

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:44 pm - Reply

      Well, I asked how people would try to de-legitimise this and it seems I’m going to get an answer.

      For the record, the Dominic Cummings matter is not “done & dusted” as he still has a job as a government adviser.

    • Really June 23, 2020 at 10:35 pm - Reply

      So agree or prosecute everyone in politics that broke lock down he was not alone if that’s your view

      • Mike Sivier June 24, 2020 at 8:18 am - Reply

        There’s no need to prosecute everybody as some of those who broke lockdown admitted it and resigned their positions. As for any others – I’d be quite happy to see them prosecuted too. That law should have no favourites.

  4. Ian June 23, 2020 at 8:39 am - Reply

    The police said Cummings may have broken the rules whereas 4 LABOUR MP’s have admitted breaking the rules with no furore. Typical leftist hypocrisy.

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:46 pm - Reply

      I’m not sure I’m aware of all the instances involving Labour MPs, but I do know of at least one who resigned from her shadow job and went back to the backbenches after admitting breaking the rules. Perhaps that’s why there wasn’t such a fuss – doing the right thing?

  5. John rowe June 23, 2020 at 9:19 am - Reply

    Get over yourself,get on with your life.

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:47 pm - Reply

      As attempts to de-legitimise someone go, that’s pretty lame.

  6. Richard Bury (@RichardBury2) June 23, 2020 at 9:21 am - Reply

    Is this not a hate campaign?

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 11:32 am - Reply

      No.

  7. Magda June 23, 2020 at 9:34 am - Reply

    And there is the minor detail he did not break the law. But let’s not get obsessed with detail

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:49 pm - Reply

      He broke the laws in the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 and the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984. Clearly you aren’t even interested in detail. The question is whether a private prosecution will be permitted, the government having failed in its duty of enforcement.

  8. Stuart Scott June 23, 2020 at 9:40 am - Reply

    I admire this Law graduates thinking, however one could throw millions of pounds at trying to get this awful lawbreaker/Brexit instigate out down the job centre. You forget it is Cummings that is running the country and Johnson is his Gopher. And to be Cummings lapdog you have to be a compulsive serial LIAR. And Johnson fits the position perfectly. You will never win against Cummings, Johnson or the Tory Party, which is the worst political cabinet in a decade. We are just mere citizens of a very much BROKEN BRITAIN! which has lost the prefix GREAT! I wish you all the luck possible in bringing this awful man to justice, but I am so sceptical. So sorry. Good Luck Stuart Torquay.

    • Derek June 23, 2020 at 12:51 pm - Reply

      Awful for looking out for his family, haha get a life, he is not a rapist, child murderer or crook.

      • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:55 pm - Reply

        He wasn’t looking out for his family, though. He was deliberately flouting the law because he fancied a trip north to see his folks. None of his excuses add up. Nobody suggested he was any of those other things you mention, so please put your straw man argument away.

    • Penelope Jones June 23, 2020 at 1:47 pm - Reply

      That’s Bob on, Stuart. We really are where we should be as a country after an illegal war and 41 years of capitalism. It’s abhorrent but it would take revolution to fix. Anyone?

  9. Bryan Tomlinson June 23, 2020 at 10:06 am - Reply

    You people are disgusting attention whores.
    You bleat for free movement but one Englishman moving in England has made you act moronic.

    • Moya Waterworth June 23, 2020 at 12:12 pm - Reply

      The morons following Cummings advise were well and truly taken for fools. One law for the morons staying home, not seeing family, not able to be with dying loved ones. Yep we truly are morons.

      • Really June 23, 2020 at 10:42 pm - Reply

        You would not unfortunately been allowed to see those unfortunate relatives no matter what cummings did as it is a deadly awful virus that is a medical fact

        • Mike Sivier June 24, 2020 at 8:17 am - Reply

          Cummings went off to see his family. You’re right that Moya Waterworth would not have been allowed to do the same because the rules would have been enforced in the case of the commenter’s family in a way that they weren’t in Cummings’s. That’s why people are so angry.

  10. Christina June 23, 2020 at 10:28 am - Reply

    Already donated. Good lick with this. Behind you all the way for so many reasons relating to myself, loved ones, missed funerals, missed weddings, missed Christenings, missed opportunities. Cummings didn’t just travel, HW TRAVELLED KNOWINGLY WITH THE VIRUS AND SPREAD IT! I’m praying someone comes forward with more info. He’s now about to change planning laws to suit himself as the cottage he stayed in was built without planning consent. This man is the true leader of this country. He runs everything. WHY? What hold or dirt does he have on Boris and Gove. It is so clear that he is blackmailing them because they will cover and excuse Anything he does.

    • Really June 23, 2020 at 10:48 pm - Reply

      Where is the evidence he spread a virus that’s an awful thing to say and wouldn’t we have all still behaved like responsible adults protecting our loved ones no matter what any one else did I think in the midst of what our country has faced and is still facing we need to not bother about unimportant media stirred issues and concentrate on holding those we have left precious

      • Mike Sivier June 24, 2020 at 8:15 am - Reply

        People haven’t “still behaved like responsible adults” though. “Doing a Cummings” or “going for an eye test” are now-common euphemisms for breaking lockdown rules.

  11. John Clitherow June 23, 2020 at 10:40 am - Reply

    Another person full of own self importance, wants hrs of fame. So is she going to do everyone else as well. Get over it grow up. It’s pathetic.More important things to give money too.

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:51 pm - Reply

      Possibly, and people would be justified in giving their money to other causes if the government had bothered to enforce its own rules. But that didn’t happen because Cummings is one of their elite boys, so it falls to the people to demand enforcement of the government’s own laws. It isn’t pathetic to want to do that. Millions of people are enraged about what Cummings did. Perhaps it’s time you grew up, woke up, looked around you and realised that you’re on the wrong side of the argument.

      • Jamie June 24, 2020 at 3:12 am - Reply

        I can’t believe there are so many people defending this slimeball. He thinks it’s one rule for him, another for everyone else, and the weasly apologists here agree with him.

        And now people have broken lockdown as a consequence (“doing a cummings” / “going for an eye test”)

        Of course, this unelected leader wouldn’t let Johnson sack him, so good on someone else for following this through. And shame on the so called “patriotic” right wingers who want to p*ss over the laws of the country.

  12. J Raymond June 23, 2020 at 11:28 am - Reply

    Steve H ..Not so! Even if the prosecution fails it will keep the issue from being swept under the political carpet. It will force the defendant to respond and place himself on the stand and if he declines and does not mount a defence then the appellant will win by default. If “moving on” is supposed to mean the rich and powerful get away with law breaking but rank and file citizens do not, then you are celebrating corruption.

  13. SteveH June 23, 2020 at 1:02 pm - Reply

    I doubt this will ever get to court. There are quite tight restrictions on who is allowed to bring a prosecution in both the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and the Coronavirus Act 2020.

    Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 Section 64
    Restriction on right to prosecute.
    Proceedings in respect of an offence created by a provision of, or regulations under, this Act may not be taken by any person other than—
    (a) a relevant health protection authority,
    (b) a body whose function it is to enforce the provision or regulation in question, or
    (c) a person who made (or whose predecessors made) the regulation in question.]

    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/22/section/64

    The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020
    Prosecutions
    11. Proceedings for an offence under these Regulations may be brought by the Crown Prosecution Service and any person designated by the Secretary of State.

    https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/11

    I am not a lawyer but to my layman’s eyes a private prosecution looks like a non-starter.

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 1:57 pm - Reply

      You raise a good point. It seems these laws were devised specifically to ensure that the government of the day could select who would be prosecuted – possibly to ensure that some people really were above the law. That needs to be re-examined, obviously.

  14. J Edington June 23, 2020 at 2:19 pm - Reply

    Although I have no doubts that Cummings will get away with anything, I do agree that someone should at least attempt to show him he’s not above the law.

    However, as you well know Mike, law suits cost an arm and a leg and are difficult for a single person to fund.

    There is already a case being attempted by a group on the Crowd Justice site, supported by Nazir Afzal. Maybe Ms Taliefar would be better adding her support to that campaign?

    https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/dominic-cummings/?utm_source=CrowdJustice&utm_campaign=19bdcd399e-DOMCJUNE2020_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_7304756a43-19bdcd399e-169233533

  15. Mike June 23, 2020 at 7:03 pm - Reply

    If Cummings is to be prosecuted for breaking the lockdown rules, then what about the thousands of BLM protesters? Or is that not politically fashionable for the far-lefties?

    • Mike Sivier June 23, 2020 at 8:54 pm - Reply

      What, like the BLM protesters who observed the 2m rule in Scotland last weekend… until the police settled them, forcing them into closer contact?

      Or the BLM protesters in Reading last weekend who also observed social distancing, only to have their event associated with a completely unrelated triple murder by the mass media?

      Or is that inconvenient for the fascists?

  16. Mahsa Taliefar June 23, 2020 at 10:19 pm - Reply

    Hi Mike,
    Really enjoyed reading this and you are very spot on with everything you have said.
    Thank you for your kind words and support.

    Many thanks,

    Mahsa Taliefar

  17. CLAIRE dolman June 23, 2020 at 10:26 pm - Reply

    Whether he went to Barnard Castle or not, Cummings knew the whole trip was wrong, or else he and his wife would have written about it in her Spectator article.

  18. Really June 23, 2020 at 10:31 pm - Reply

    I think this is for your own personal gain I think it’s a witch hunt or are you also going after the labour politicians that drove during lockdown to sing happy birthday to there dad or the ones that went to second homes to see lovers if not why not and these cases where known at the time of lockdown and not 2 months after the fact you cant hunt one and not the other that just means its personal and you do not talk for all the public he did not influnce anyone everyone behaved as the would have to protect there love ones as we are all more intelligent than you clearly give us credit for .

    • Mike Sivier June 24, 2020 at 8:27 am - Reply

      Some of the people you mention freely admitted breaking lockdown and resigned from their positions, so may be deemed to have taken punishment already. Stephen Kinnock (the “happy birthday” incident) can happily take his lumps from the cops as far as This Writer is concerned. There’s nothing personal about wanting the law to be administered equally to everybody.

      Cummings has indeed influenced other people. Apparently “doing a Cummings”, “doing a Dominic” or “going for an eye test” are common slang for breaking the lockdown now.

      • Jamie June 27, 2020 at 9:27 am - Reply

        … as witnessed by those who travelled to Bournemouth recently.

  19. Guy Bryan June 24, 2020 at 1:47 pm - Reply

    To take some to court they would have to have broken the law or at least be in a position to be charged. The Durham Police cleared Mr Cummins of doing that by driving to Co Durham. They did feel he was wrong, but not crimminaly so, to have driven to test his eyesight. So what exactly is she proposing to take him to court for. It is perfectly obvious to all that this is just a political maneover to get rid of someone the left don’t like. In fact I suspect this I’d an other Remainer ploy to attempt to damage this government which is doing its best to carry out the democratic wish of the electorate which quite obviously was reinforced by the result of the last election. Any court case would be purely vexatious.

    • Mike Sivier June 24, 2020 at 5:04 pm - Reply

      But the Durham police went on to fine two other people for making almost exactly the same journey, several days after Dominic Cummings so the Durham police have been inconsistent in enforcing the law. And if they said he was not criminally wrong to test his eyesight by driving, then they were simply wrong. The law is the law and it is a criminal offence to drive if you believe your eyesight may be impaired. She is proposing to take him to court for breaking the law. It may indeed be a political manoeuvre to remove a danger to the public but it is also a demand that nobody should be deemed to be above the law and if you’re sore that Cummings is being targeted in this manner, you should be angry at him for the sheer thick-headed cheek of thinking it didn’t apply to him. Maybe it has the support of anti-Brexiters but I wouldn’t say that was the first priority.

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