Alireza Ghazi-Torbati reflects on the latest changes in the case of ‘Hannah’, a Christian school worker sacked for raising safeguarding concerns
The morning of Tuesday 4 March 2025 had a sense of familiarity. It was the beginning of the re-hearing in Christian teacher Hannah’s case.
At the heart of this case is a teacher who, seeing a child being led down a dangerous and destructive path of gender transition, did what she could to protect that precious image-bearer – and was sacked for it.
As we arrived at the Employment Tribunal in Nottingham, our prayer was that justice would not only be done but be seen to be done.
Silenced for raising safeguarding concerns
Hannah was sacked after she raised safeguarding concerns about an 8-year-old who was ‘transitioning’ at the school she worked at.
The child had joined her class in 2021 and was being brought into the school as transgender ‘by stealth’.
The school policies and staff training appeared to promote a ‘trans affirming’ policy, which meant that any child would be affirmed – without medical evidence – in their chosen gender.
This was no surprise given the influence that controversial campaigning organisations like EqualiTeach and Mermaids had on Nottinghamshire schools. The person providing training was also a Stonewall Champion.
Hannah believed that the school’s actions were putting the child and their peers in danger. Because she cared so much about protecting this child, she raised concerns with the headteacher, the governors and the Local Authority.
However, no one would listen. Therefore, she blew the whistle on what was happening at the school by bringing a judicial review against the Local Authority.
Judicial review and sacking
During the judicial review, Hannah gave information to her lawyers about the child in question. This was the trigger that led to the two Employment Tribunal hearings.
In response, the school accused her of breaching data protection rules and confidentiality, dismissed her and reported her to a raft of regulatory bodies. Her whole livelihood was taken away because she was trying to protect a child from harm.
During the hearing, the Council’s lawyers argued that Hannah was not allowed to access or share the information she had given to her lawyers. They said that there was no gender-affirming policy at the school and that Hannah was simply a campaigner who did not care about the specific child.
Hannah’s solicitor reiterated in the hearing that she stood up because of the harm to which this child was being exposed. She followed all the policies. The law protects her and, in reality, it is the school and the Council which were in the wrong. They never should have dismissed her. She did nothing wrong yet was punished, and she deserves to be exonerated and see justice.
Repeated recusals
Almost a year ago, Hannah’s Employment Tribunal trial collapsed after we found one of the panel member’s prejudiced comments online, forcing the entire panel to recuse itself.
This year, we had to make yet another application to recuse a panel member. This had to happen after Chris Tansley, an ex-president of Unison and trans-supporter, revealed his connection with Nottinghamshire County Council (the Respondent).
Praise God that the trial did not fall apart again.
Reporting restrictions extended indefinitely
While the replacement panel member prepared herself to hear the case, we had one more matter to deal with: reporting restrictions and anonymity. Forced to remain anonymous, Hannah has been subjected to reporting restrictions that prevented her from sharing her story publicly.
But justice must be done in the light, not in secret.
As long as Hannah remains anonymous, she remains ignorable. No one can put a face or even a name to her story and she is gagged from speaking about what she’s been through.
To protect children from radical transgender ideologies, parents must know that schools are promoting ‘social transitioning’. And whistle-blowers must be free to share their information without being silenced and losing their jobs because of it.
After her lawyers made a request for the restrictions to be lifted, an interim order was made for them to be left until the scheduled end of the hearing, with arguments to be heard after witnesses had given evidence. The further submissions took place at the beginning of the second week of the hearing.
Incredibly, yesterday (Thursday, 13 March 2025), the panel extended the reporting restrictions indefinitely.
We hoped that the Employment Tribunal would see sense and allow Hannah to tell her story with her real name. But no. The panel has once again robbed Hannah of her name – and in an even worse way than before as the previous restrictions would at least have lifted in 2031.
We will appeal these reporting restrictions and will continue to fight for justice to be done publicly and in the light.
Witnesses
Once the new panel member arrived on Wednesday, we began the most exciting part of any hearing: the examination of witnesses.
Hannah went first, facing a tough interrogation about her actions which led to the case. She did an outstanding job and powered through the exhausting barrage of constant questioning, which took a day and a half. She went toe-to-toe with the barrister and managed to fight back against his accusations.
After she finished, Hannah’s solicitor cross-examined the Council’s witnesses: a former governor, an HR employee and the former headteacher. From these witnesses, he drew out several key admissions which will, by God’s grace, help Hannah get justice.
Then, after closing submissions on Monday, that was it – ‘Round Two’ was complete.
We left the Employment Tribunal with a cautious hope – that this time, we might get justice. Please, O Lord.
Praying for justice
As the Employment Tribunal panel deliberates and writes its judgment, we pray that the Lord would help the panel see that justice demands they rule in Hannah’s favour.
However, even if the panel decides to give justice, it will not be true justice until the reporting restrictions are lifted. Until then, we continue to pray that Hannah will be one day be able to reclaim her name and tell her story.
Find out more about Hannah
