Former U of M med student expelled for social media posts six years ago continues fight to quash decision

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This article was published 17/12/2024 (385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A University of Manitoba medical student expelled after making “pro-gun and pro-life” posts on Facebook is seeking to quash a disciplinary committee’s decision in a saga now in its sixth year.

It is the second time Rafael Zaki has asked a Court of King’s Bench judge to overturn a committee’s decision to expel him from the Max Rady College of Medicine.

Zaki, whose earlier legal win led to a second disciplinary hearing, went before U of M panels after sharing views about abortion and U.S. gun rights in three posts in February 2019.

Court documents said Zaki, a Coptic Christian, was a first-year medical student when he made two posts supporting the right to carry guns, and one containing a pro-life essay in which he wrote doctors who perform abortions should be charged with first-degree murder.

The posts generated 18 confidential complaints. College representatives recommended expulsion in August 2019 after they deemed Zaki’s original apology to classmates insincere and a fifth draft insufficient.

He sought a judicial review after a university discipline committee rejected his appeal.

According to court documents, the U of M said Zaki was expelled for failing to meet his professionalism obligations, and that it took no issue with his personal beliefs.

Zaki argued he was kicked out “for holding conscientious and religious beliefs that abortion is harmful.”

In September 2021, King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne quashed the discipline committee’s decision. He found it unreasonable because it failed to consider Zaki’s Charter rights and did not address the reasonable apprehension of bias of a college representative.

“The posts can be characterized as pro-gun and pro-life,” Champagne wrote in his judgment.

He sent the matter back to a U of M panel with new members. The panel upheld the expulsion following a disciplinary hearing in April 2022, prompting Zaki’s second application for a judicial review.

Court documents said he alleges the decision was unreasonable, in part, because the panel failed to properly consider or give any weight to “critical” new evidence presented at the hearing.

A Dec. 6 judgment by Justice Candace Grammond allowed Zaki to amend his application to include an allegation of unreasonable apprehension of bias stemming from the latest panel hearing.

Zaki argued the panel’s chair should have recused herself from the hearing, because she was a college of pharmacy professor who reported to a dean who oversees the college of medicine. The dean was a decision-maker in Zaki’s expulsion and testified at the hearing.

Panel members told the hearing there were no reasons to recuse themselves on the grounds of conflict of interest or bias, the judgment said.

“I have accepted that Mr. Zaki was unaware of the relationship between the respective roles of the chair and the dean until earlier this year,” Grammond wrote.

The judge dismissed Zaki’s attempt to use a surreptitious recording of the disciplinary hearing. The parties had agreed no recordings were to be made, the judgment said.

“The abuse of process was significant, and it is plain and obvious that the recording should be expunged from the court record,” Grammond wrote.

The judge denied Zaki’s bid to force the disclosure of two disciplinary decisions involving a nursing student whose suspension for online posts was overturned by a local discipline committee.

“The fact that another student was reinstated after making social media posts that were determined to be antisemitic, discriminatory, and unprofessional, and for which she did not apologize, will not assist the court in determining the application, including whether the UDC was biased against Mr. Zaki,” Grammond wrote.

The judgment did not name the student.

Nursing student Arij Al Khafagi was initially suspended for the rest of the 2023-24 school year after making social media posts condemning the Israeli government for military action in Gaza, the Free Press previously reported.

Senior administrators deemed the posts antisemitic. Al Khafagi successfully appealed the suspension, following a closed hearing in January.

Zaki also lost a bid to present new evidence, which post-dates his appearance before the U of M panel, regarding his completion of ethics and professionalism instruction.

A Court of King’s Bench hearing is scheduled for March 2025.

Zaki’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment. The U of M declined to comment, citing active proceedings. The university does not make disciplinary decisions public, citing privacy reasons.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca