ABDIRAHIM “HUSU” HUSSEIN (SDP), a councillor for the City of Helsinki, has been suspended temporarily by the council group of the Social Democratic Party.
Hussein on Monday admitted to Helsingin Sanomat that he had embellished a story he tweeted about a passenger whom he dropped off his taxi at a bus stop before reaching the final destination for racially abusing him.
“I threatened to drop off the passenger, but I didn’t. I should have,” he commented to the newspaper, explaining that he had wanted to generate discussion about the harassment faced by taxi drivers.
“I wrote the tweet on Sunday because I was angry,” he said.
Eveliina Heinäluoma, the chairperson of Social Democrats on the Helsinki City Council, said Hussein has been suspended from the group until the end of June.
“The reason is lying and the consequent lack of trust. The group requires that every councillor is honest and behaves in the dignified manner that is expected of councillors. Also Husu clearly must behave this way in the future in order to be able to serve as a member of the group,” she stated on Twitter.
Hussein drives taxi on a part-time basis for Taksi Helsinki. It was his employer that first raised doubts about the veracity of his story by revealing that its details do not match the log data of the car. The taxi company has also announced that its quality management committee will evaluate the case and consider taking further action against Hussein.
“I want to see and examine how this correlates with the service agreement between drivers and the company. That’s how much negative publicity this has brought on Taksi Helsinki,” CEO Jari Kantonen told Ilta-Sanomat on Tuesday.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
Source: Uusi Suomi
