Neil Wilby Media

Since just after 9 o’clock on Saturday 29th July, 2023, there had been an unexplained gap in posts on a disgraced, frequently-banned Facebook page which has become synonymous with hate, division, vendettas – and the violent fantasies of its unemployed, Tameside-based operator, Raja Miah.

The most recent post on Recusant Nine (linked here), until this morning (Saturday 5th August, 2023), had been a lament over lack of support for his purported, on-off campaign to be a Member of Parliament for Oldham West and Royton. Claiming that, with only 50 people supporting his fundraiser, and the harsh reality of the other 70,949 eligible voters in that constituency shunning him, it had left Miah feeling despondent.

Just a few minutes after that seven day break, enforced or otherwise, Miah was back with a bang. Which, in the light of copious social media activity elsewhere, an objectively-minded reader could well infer that Facebook had, yet again, banned him. His longest previous social media censure led to a five week absence (read more here). Recently, he informed his followers that much of his social media activity would be transferred to Telegram to avoid such bans both on Facebook and on YouTube.

As ever, the latest Facebook post reveals that Raja is angry. Very angry, in fact.

His return to the platform is marked by the usual hatred towards Jim McMahon MP, the sitting Member for Oldham West and Royton since 2015; the police; the press; and a false claim that a former Mayor ‘abused’ him; alluding to an article published earlier this week on Neil Wilby Media (read in full here).

He also provided further running commentary on a long running criminal harassment trial in which he is defendant. His next appearance in the dock will be on 9th August, 2023 where a day of legal argument before a district judge is listed at Bolton Magistrates’ Court. Any and all wrongdoing is denied (read more here).

Bradford-born Miah has asserted many times on social media that his arrest, prosecution and conditional court bail are all ‘politically motivated’ and orchestrated by Jim McMahon and ‘his corrupt Oldham Labour Party’. Claims robustly rejected by both the MP and the local Party.

Raja says in today’s rendition: “The reason for their desperation is because I am in court on Wednesday. It is their last chance. I have refused the deal offered to me by the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service]. Even though it would mean I leave without a criminal record, I will not accept a single blemish against my name”.

Plea bargains, particularly in the lower courts, are a routine feature of the criminal justice system. They are, almost always, grounded in pragmatism and not usually an indicator of the likely success or failure of a prosecution (read a defence barrister’s views on the topic here).  Particularly, in a case which has already cost the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds resulting from ten previous hearings, with a full day pre-trial hearing and a two day trial, costing tens of thousands pounds more, yet to come.

But those, quite rightly, are matters for the prosecutor, defence counsel and district judge – and Raja Miah is entitled to a fair hearing either way. What can be said with certainty is that the complainant, and principal witness, has not been consulted, assuming the defendant’s social media assertion over a CPS-led plea bargain is, in fact, true. The court would expect a person with that status in proceedings to be part of such a process.

The likely Facebook ban is also a typical Raja conundrum – and Miah offers no clue about that at all in his ‘comeback’ post.

Possible transgressions over the period leading up to his absence from the Recusant Nine page were a number of adverse remarks, broadcasts and posts made about the former Oldham District Police Commander, who left his post suddenly at the beginning of last month (read more here). Or, possibly, the use of the platform to promote Miah’s most recent crowdfunder, ostensibly to support a campaign to be an MP in a general election that may not take place until January, 2025 (read more here) and in which he is unlikely to ever appear on the same ballot paper as the sitting Member..

An expert in these matters says:

“Facebook does generally permit links to crowdfunding websites like crowdfunder.co.uk to be promoted on their platform, but with some restrictions and guidelines.

“When promoting a crowdfunding campaign on Facebook, there are specific advertising policies and guidelines that must be followed (read here). Facebook may restrict certain types of content or fundraising campaigns to maintain a safe and positive user experience on the platform. It’s essential to review Facebook’s current advertising policies and guidelines, specifically those related to crowdfunding and financial products, before attempting to promote a crowdfunding link”.

Facebook rules that Miah appears to have violated can be found at sections 1.1 and 2.1, at the very least. Lending weight to the hypothesis that he was banned from the platform for that reason, if no other.

Either way, the current crowdfund data, publicly available here, is a cause for wider concern: It shows that 77 donations have been made, 25 anonymously and accounting for around half of the £3,625 raised; a number of the donors have subscribed more than once, of which a fair number do not live in the constituency. Taking all that into account, Raja Miah’s Oldham West and Royton voter count would appear to be around 20 in that case, not 50 as he has claimed. Which, based on the Parliamentary election result in December 2019, leaves him well over 24,000 short of what was required to top that poll (full result can be viewed here).

The reader is invited to make of that what they will. Particularly, in relation to the sustainability of, and motivation behind, the MP campaign and its associated fundraising.

Not least as, on 19th August, 2023 and under the terms of the crowdfunder, Raja Miah gets to keep whatever is raised; even though it has, so far, only attained 12% of its target, of which around half is of questionable provenance.

UPDATE: A reader has pointed out that, in the 5th August, 2023 Facebook post under scrutiny, Miah claims that he is ‘not a money launderer’. That has spawned a further, short article which can be read at this weblink.

Further UPDATE: Raja Miah’s right of reply to this article was not exercised in the conventional manner. Instead he posted this on Facebook yesterday evening (5th August, 2023) above an image of a Neil Wilby tweet featuring this article:

“This is McMahon’s mouthpiece in malice oozing more desperation than ever before. The aim is to try and stop me standing for election on an anti corruption and anti rape gang platform for MP in my hometown of Oldham.

“After McMAHON and his Malicious Blooger failed in their efforts to try and ban my name from the ballot paper, they switched their attention to try and damage my crowdfunder to raise funds for the campaign. They’ve failed there as well.

“Be in no doubt, the first set of 50,000 leaflets will be distributed before October half term through the letterboxes of all 9 wards in the constituency. And there is nothing they can do about it.

“As for my supposed Facebook ban. It’s just as fabricated as every other story that comes from the mouth of this man. I’d be embarrassed if an ally such as WILBY was the best I could do as Shadow minister.

Follow Neil Wilby on Twitter (here) and Neil Wilby Media on Facebook (here) for signposts to any further updates.

Page last updated: Sunday 6th August, 2023 at 09h55

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Picture credit: The Oldham Times

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