‘Utterly depraved’: Pro-Gaza MP deletes newborn baby’s photo after vile torrent of sexist, racist abuse

The independent MP for Blackburn, Adnan Hussain, has been forced to delete a viral picture of his newborn daughter from X after she was subjected to what he described as a barrage of “vile” and “utterly depraved” online abuse, just hours after her birth. Hussain, who won his seat in 2024 on a pro-Gaza platform, told The Guardian that the comments directed at his first child were centered around “a gendered racism and Islamophobia”.

The independent MP had posted a pixelated picture of his daughter out of “sheer excitement and happiness” at becoming a father for the first time, simply wanting to share his joy with constituents and associates. While a similar post on Facebook received only supportive messages, the reaction on X quickly took a dark turn.

Initially, the comments focused on questioning Hussain’s Britishness and even suggested his daughter should be deported alongside him to their “ancestral homeland”. Hussain noted that while these comments were “absolutely racist, and should by no means be tolerated,” they “came as no great shock”.

People attacked a baby over her father

However, the situation escalated the following morning. Hussain said his “stomach dropped” when he saw more posts that had appeared, calling them “of the most vile nature, centred around a gendered racism and Islamophobia”. He stated, “The utterly depraved, completely warped and hateful comments directed at my daughter, were not something I’ve ever experienced before, or could have imagined experiencing”.

The “naivety” of being a new parent, he says, left him completely unprepared for the level of abuse. Naturally, he immediately deleted the post, later writing on X, “The vile racism and hate directed at an innocent soul less than a day old was beyond depraved”.

This experience has reinforced the MP’s resolve to fight against the growing tide of hatred he sees in the UK. He spoke out about the abuse to highlight what he calls a “very dark abyss of hatred and despair” that he believes is becoming increasingly common. Hussain, who is part of the Jeremy Corbyn-aligned Independent Alliance of MPs, is pointing the finger at leaders and platform owners. Ministers are always in the spotlight, but their families should be off limits.

He worries that “The hatred those in positions of leadership and power are allowing to fester and go unchecked is having very real, very dangerous, real-world consequences”. He hopes that many of the most hateful posts were created by bots or trolls, though he added that “Someone is behind them, and we must question their motives, and the motives of those who own these platforms and who allow hatred to fester unchecked”.

Hussain is clear that this isn’t just about mean words online. He believes that “Day by day, the atmosphere around us is darkening, be that online or out on the streets, and maybe even workplaces”. He emphasized that “There are forces, very strong forces, adamant on leading society down a very dark abyss of hatred and despair”.

His message to the community is simple: “I believe a force just as strong, just as determined should hit back, and say enough, we will not allow this”. If this is the kind of hatred a literal newborn baby is facing just because of who her father is, then we really do need a strong force to push back.