A Labour councillor suspended for swearing at a colleague during a Facebook exchange has spoken out on the issue for the first time.

Peter Barnett was placed under investigation by Waltham Forest council Labour group last month following a spat with party colleague Cllr Shabana Dhedhi.

In a letter sent to the Guardian, Cllr Barnett said he expects to be exonerated.

During the exchange on January 21, Cllr Dhedi posted: “The Prophet (saw) said: ‘A time will come to mankind when man will not care whether what he gets comes from a lawful or an unlawful source’.” 

Cllr Barnett responded by posting: “what the **** does that mean?

When Cllr Dhedi explained the quote related to immoral earnings, Cllr Barnett hit back by saying: “‘shame the prophet can’t speak clearly, still he’s always got you to explain’.

Cllr Barnett said he received a call from the chief whip Peter Douglas, telling him to remove his comments and apologise, which he did.

He said: “I complied with his instructions; I apologised on Facebook and removed my comments. 

"I contacted the chief whip and told him I had complied he thanked me and I considered the matter was then resolved.

“Shabana then made a formal complaint since I had already apologised on the instructions of the chief whip I am at a loss to understand the continued problem.

“The religious discrimination act requires an offence to be either incitement to violence, or incitement to hatred; my comments do neither of these, all other comment fall under the heading of free speech.

East London and West Essex Guardian Series:

“If I have breached the council code of conduct I must be told how. 

"Waltham Forest has a duty to councillors to advise them of the code and indicate what if any law might be broken.

“My posting on Facebook was in a personal capacity not in my position of councillor, there is case law.

“The complaint bears no relationship to the evidence provided, the complaint says there was harassment, and this usually requires a continuous course of behaviour that is absent here it was a Facebook exchange over a few minutes.”

Mr Barnett said there has been no contact between the pair since the incident.

The Labour Group is yet to make a decision.

Cllr Dhedhi has not commented on the investigation.