Labour Coventry South candidate Zarah Sultana apologises for 'celebrate deaths' post

Zarah Sultana: "I should not have articulated my anger in the manner I did, for which I apologise"

A Labour general election candidate has apologised for saying she would "celebrate" the deaths of world leaders, including Tony Blair.

Zarah Sultana wrote on social media in 2015: "Try and stop me when the likes of Blair, Netanyahu and Bush die."

In her apology on Monday, Ms Sultana said she had been "exasperated by endless cycles of global suffering, violence and needless killing".

She is contesting the Coventry South seat on 12 December.

In 2015, Ms Sultana also wrote of her support for "violent resistance" by Palestinians, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

She told the BBC the tweets were from a "deleted account dating back several years from when I was a student".

"This was written out of frustration rather than any malice," she said in a statement, explaining that her anger had arisen "from decisions by political leaders, from the Iraq War to the killing of over 2,000 Palestinians in 2014, mostly civilians, which was condemned by the United Nations".

She added: "I do not support violence and I should not have articulated my anger in the manner I did, for which I apologise."

When she was announced as the Coventry South candidate last week, she wrote on social media: "With your support, I will be a strong socialist voice for working people in this city."

Labour won a majority of nearly 8,000 in the 2017 general election, when Jim Cunningham was the party's candidate in the constituency.

The revelation comes on the same day a Conservative general election candidate apologised for a Facebook post in which she said people on a reality TV show needed "putting down".