Kate Shemirani

Kate Shemirani
Kate Shemirani speaking at a protest event about COVID-19 at Trafalgar Square on 19 September 2020 during which she claimed that the coronavirus was a "hoax" and "does not exist"
Nationality	British
Occupation	Conspiracy theorist
Political party	Save Us Now
Movement	Conspiracism
Children	4
Website	www.saveusnow.org.uk

Kate Shemirani (born 1965 or 1966) is a British conspiracy theorist, anti-vaxxer and former nurse, who lost her license to practice because of misconduct. She is best known for promoting conspiracy theories about COVID-19, vaccinations and 5G technology. Shemirani has been described by The Jewish Chronicle as a leading figure of a movement that includes conspiracy theorists as well as far-left and far-right activists.

Shemirani describes herself as a "Natural Nurse in a Toxic World". She was suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in July 2020, in response to complaints that she was spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and about vaccines, and struck off (with a right to appeal in due course) in May 2021.

Biography

Shemirani is known for her promotion of conspiracy theories on topics related to vaccines and 5G telephone networks, in particular in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. She has presented her views at events alongside other conspiracy theorists such as David Icke, Piers Corbyn and Mark Steele.

Shemirani believes that anyone who disagrees with her or accuses her of lying must be "lying, misinformed or jealous", singling out the "overweight, envious nurses" who she has regarded as jealous of her own "decent looks" throughout her career.

Promotion of conspiracy theories

COVID-19 denialism

See also: Misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Shemirani describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a "plandemic" and a "scamdemic", and said in December 2020 that there was "no evidence that I can see that a pandemic exists". She characterises the pandemic as a conspiracy to control the masses, with any vaccine for COVID-19 being a "political tool to change people's DNA".

In a video published in Spring of 2020, she said "Just before Christmas we had [been told] … we're all going to die of measles… Now we're suddenly all going to die of coronavirus. I'm not buying any of it… I think it's really important that we don't just believe what the media tell us."

Shemirani has been suspended from Facebook several times for promoting harmful misinformation to her 54,000 followers, including linking the 5G mobile network to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Hope Not Hate, who monitor online racism and conspiracy theories, her Facebook page describes the 9/11 attacks as a false flag, Satanic messages in music videos and the organised destruction of the nuclear family. By September 2020, her Facebook page had been removed. She was suspended from Twitter in late October 2020.

Shemirani has been the subject of complaints for likening measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic to Nazi war crimes and the Holocaust. She has referred to hospital deaths as "genocide" and the National Health Service (NHS) as "the new Auschwitz". She asked in one post, "When are people going to wake up? On the cattle truck? Or in the showers?" She has described the government as behaving like the Nazis in their attempts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. She defended her statements by saying:

When I likened this to Auschwitz and the cattle trucks – you tell me the difference?

Because the only time in history I could find where the doctors and nurses were able to end people's lives was the nurses of the Third Reich. The nurses of the Third Reich are here today.

I don't care if they find it offensive. I find it offensive that our elderly have been murdered in care homes.

Stop being a special snowflake and saying you're offended. They are killing our elderly, our most vulnerable.

The Jewish Chronicle investigated Shemirani and found that online she made references to Hitler and the Nazis when describing the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and the NHS.

Shemirani was a host and speaker at Resist and Act for Freedom, a protest event held at Trafalgar Square on 19 September 2020. The event gathered together protestors with a wide range of grievances relating to face masks, vaccinations, and a host of conspiracy theories, although David Icke and Piers Corbyn distanced themselves from the event, Corbyn accusing its organisers of "fake news used to divide Our Movement".

During her speech, she said that a vaccine for COVID-19 will mean that the government "will be able to look at every aspect of what's going on in our brains" and "not only can they pick it up, they can download into us". She also claimed, "They want you all wearing a mask, there's no science behind that mask. That mask is going to make you sick".

Whilst she was observing police officers amassing at the North West corner of the square, she urged members of the audience to confront the police. Protestors chanting "choose your side" formed a human blockade in order to prevent police actions and initially forced officers to retreat. Thirty protestors were arrested and the police dispersed the protest at approximately 3pm. A split in the campaign, with Steele and Shemirani on one side, and Icke and Corbyn on the other side, has been reported, with supporters of Icke describing Shemirani as "controlled opposition".

On 8 December 2020, Shemirani, appeared on Sky News and gave an interview with Alex Rossi and made several unsubstantiated claims. She said, "No vaccine has ever been proven safe and no vaccine has ever been proven effective". Rossi interrupted and replied, "We know that's not true. Millions and millions of lives have been saved by vaccines". Shemirani swiftly replied, "Simply not true". Rossi sharply responded, "They're some of the safest medicines ever invented". That's just nonsense". Shemirani continued with more unsubstantiated claims and said, "There is no evidence that I can see that a pandemic exists. There is no evidence that SARS-CoV-2 has been purified and is unequivocally in existence".

On 1 March 2021, the Metropolitan Police reported that they had charged Shemirani with 6 breaches of the UK Coronavirus regulations along with fellow activist Piers Corbyn.

On 24 July 2021, Shemirani made threats to NHS doctors and nurses by comparing them to the doctors of Nazi Germany who were convicted at the Nuremberg Trials and hanged.

Anti-Semitism

Shemirani has espoused several anti-semitic conspiracy theories. She stated in an interview that her ex-husband had taught her about the Committee of 300, she explained that he gave her "an education in the New World Order, of the illuminati, the top families, who owns what. All the corruption, the murders, I knew all of that. But I never knew it would happen in my lifetime." Originally based on the distortion of a quote by German politician Walther Rathenau in 1909 about around 300 powerful men determining the fate of the world, the belief that the supposed 300 men were all Jewish became dominant. It is viewed as a parallel to the anti-Semitic hoax, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Shemirani contends that George Soros is responsible for the Black Lives Matter protests and online she compared him to the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and showed images of Hitler and the Nazi swastika. She believes Soros and Bill Gates are promoting what she thinks is an invented COVID-19 pandemic to their advantage. Shemirani thinks that abortions and Planned Parenthood are responsible for more black deaths than any other cause and that Soros funds the program. She also repeats QAnon conspiracy theories about figures in the US Democratic Party being "globalist", Satanic paedophiles. Shemirani promotes narratives that a kind of universal religious persecution operation exists and she believes that a large-scale conspiracy by the global elite is perpetrating the sexual abuse of children.

She also claimed during a speech, "The biggest cause of death amongst the American Black… African Black American… is abortion! They're killing your babies before they even get out the womb! Who funds that? George Soros Planned Parenthood".

In May, she was interviewed for the American health website Vibe and espoused a conspiracy theory about the marriage of Imran Khan and Jemima Goldsmith. She claimed:

Imran Khan has just accepted lots of money from Bill Gates… he's banking him for all the polio vaccines and everything else.

Imran Khan married Jemina Goldsmith and her father is one of those illuminati, those top families, they are all in bed and toe-sucking with one another.

He's not married to her now – but it doesn't matter. He was cricketer. And now he's the head of the whole of Pakistan, and in bed with Bill Gates. We have to stand up to these people because we far outnumber them".

Satanism

Shemirani believes in Satanic cults and has tried to link them to various conspiracy theories about COVID-19. According to the Jewish Chronicle's reporting, she has told her followers in speeches that "Christians are being persecuted all over the world," (along with Muslims and Asians) by "paedophiles who are all in bed with one another." She claimed that these paedophiles "all worship the devil."

Suspension from nursing

In June 2020, a virtual hearing of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which regulates nursing and midwifery professions in the UK, gave Shemirani an interim suspension for 18 months. Shemirani's interim suspension was confirmed on 20 July 2020 in a hearing in which she was assisted by fellow conspiracy theorist Mark Steele who acted as her McKenzie friend. The reason for the suspension was to avoid risks of public harm, for promoting anti-vaccination and 5G networking conspiracy theories and claiming that the COVID-19 pandemic is a scam. Shemirani and Steele criticised the hearing for not listening to their claims about 5G and vaccination. Shemirani referred to nurses who carry out vaccinations as Nazis and to those who recognise the gravity of the pandemic as "complicit in the tyranny and lies". Steele described the Nursing and Midwifery Council as being complicit in genocide.

On 28 May 2021, the NMC Fitness to Practise Committee decided to remove Shemirani from the register of the Nursing and Midwifery Council. After five years, she will be able to appeal the decision if she wishes to return to nursing.

Personal life

Shemirani lives in East Sussex and has four children.

Her son Sebastian gave an interview to the BBC's Marianna Spring on 24 October 2020 about his mother. During the interview, he told Spring that he contacted the BBC because he is worried that his mother's claims and ideas are "dangerous" and could have an impact on public health.

Kate Shemirani was contacted by the BBC about her son's account. She responded: "From what I can see it would appear a 'conspiracy theorist' is actually now anyone who believes something other than what your controllers want them to believe... I find this deeply disturbing".

See also

• Protests over responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom

External links

• Official website