Black student, 22, charged over use of N-word in tweet criticises police

A black student has accused police and prosecutors of misusing hate speech laws intended to protect minorities after she was charged for using the N-word in a tweet.

- Aamna Mohdin

Jamila A, who lives in London, was charged under the Communications Act 2003 in July 2023 after referring to the black Newcastle United footballer Alexander Isak as a "nigga" in a tweet.

Her legal team argued the term was widely used in African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and Black British English (BBE) and differed significantly from the racial slur ending in "-er".

The tweet was flagged by a data monitoring organisation and passed to the Metropolitan police, whose referral to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) led to charges, sparking a year-and-a-half legal battle.

The CPS ultimately dropped the case, citing insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.

Jamila, 22, told the Guardian she had been prosecuted for speaking in a way "that came naturally to me as a black woman". "Everyone was so angry on my behalf: my mum, my siblings, my friends... They just thought it was outrageous because, of all the people they could prosecute for saying the N-word, they chose another black person," she said.