Hate Hoax in Helsinki: Somali Social Democrat Politician Faked ‘Racist’ Taxi Story

Abdirahim “Husu” Hussein, a Social Democratic Party politician and Helsinki city councillor, has admitted to making up a hate hoax about a ‘racist’ passenger in his taxi because he was “angry”.

Mr Abdirahim “Husu” Hussein, a Somalian immigrant and left-wing politician in Helsinki, retracted his fictitious account of experiencing racist verbal abuse from a passenger in his taxi after the taxi company found that GPS data from the cab tracker refuted his claims.

“I apologise for my actions and for lying. As a decision-maker, it is my duty, to be honest. I depend on my voters’ trust and I have now broken that trust. I shall do everything I can to restore trust in my actions”, wrote the left-wing politician after his deception was revealed.

A little over a week ago Husu took to twitter in order to garner sympathy for an ‘incident’ in which a passenger in his taxi had allegedly told him to “go back to Somalia”, prompting Hussein to kick the man out of his cab.

Later in a blog post, Mr Hussein claimed that the man had acted in a racist manner, asking him why he was in Finland and where he was from, reports Yleisradio Oy, the national public broadcasting service of Finland.

The taxi operator, Taksi Helsinki, concerned over the allegations, opened an investigation into the matter and found that Hussein’s claims did not match the GPS record logged in his taxi.

The investigation by the company also found that “no one was abandoned and no passenger was removed from a ride. The matter has been discussed with Husu and the matter has been dealt with in this respect.”

The fake hate hoax drew condemnation from the Council group chair, Eveliina Heinäluoma. “I am extremely disappointed in the actions of our council group member Husu. A person in a position of responsibility should act with the dignity required of the position. We will discuss the matter in our next council group meeting”, Heinäluoma wrote on twitter.

Speaking to Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, Husu seemingly defended his hoax, claiming that even though this incident was fake, it was representative of something he believed to be real in society.

“Here’s the whole point left out: taxi drivers with foreign backgrounds are being subjected to constant racist harassment,” Hussein said.

He later admitted that “I wrote a tweet on Sunday because I was angry.”

Earlier this year Husu came under fire for writing a racially charged rant on twitter, saying: “All Finns Party members and their voters/supporters are racist. Yes, I said it. Need proof? Look at their history and how they’ve been elected as the second-largest party in Finland.”

Yesterday it was revealed that Mr Hussein had failed to notify the Social Democrat Party of his prior convictions for fraud, being fined three times in the 2000s for misrepresenting his employment status to enrich himself at taxpayer expense to the tune of over €10,000.