An ISIS fanatic who MI5 warns poses a terror threat to Britain has been granted the right to live in the UK after sneaking into the country illegally, the MoS can reveal.
Judges have ruled that the Sudanese man can remain here on human rights grounds, despite evidence from the Security Services that he may be a danger and might encourage other extremists to launch attacks in the UK.
The judges’ ruling was based on the risk that if he was sent back to Sudan, he might be detained and tortured.
The decision was made despite the court hearing that the man – who, by law, we are only allowed to know as ‘S3’ – first entered Britain illegally 18 years ago and was granted asylum, before travelling regularly between this country and Sudan without any issues.
MI5 warned judges that the man is an ISIS propagandist who spread vile material calling for jihad against the West.
EXECUTIONER: Mohammed Emwazi, known as ‘Jihadi John’
The court heard British officials stripped him of his UK passport in 2018 over fears of the threat he posed, but that he had managed to sneak back into Britain illegally for a second time. This month, immigration judges ruled he can remain living here and granted him lifelong anonymity.
Last night, MPs and terrorism experts said the case was a farcical example of how people can ‘game the system’ even when Security Services warn that illegal immigrants threaten national security.
Court documents obtained by the MoS reveal MI5 warned that the man ‘had demonstrated a commitment to the extremist ideology of ISIS’.
The documents state: ‘There was a realistic possibility that [he] would seek to radicalise other individuals and encourage them to engage in Islamist extremist activities.’
Last night, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘This is ridiculous. Judges ought to understand when the Security Services make it clear that someone poses a danger to the British public, he has forfeited his human rights with regards to staying in the UK.’
And Professor Anthony Glees, a terrorism expert at Buckingham University, called the decision ‘unacceptable’.
Three judges at a court called the Special Immigration Appeals Commission made the ruling against the Home Office, which has been trying to deport S3 since 2018.
The suspected jihadi can now live freely in the country without neighbours, work colleagues and the public knowing that he is potentially a dangerous terrorist who wants to launch deadly attacks in Britain.
Alp Mehmet, chairman of think tank Migration Watch, said: ‘Either our immigration judges are totally gullible or they derive a perverse pleasure from siding with chancers, crooks and terrorists, and putting their interests before those of the British people. If terrorists are to roam freely among us, we have a right to know who they are and what harm they could potentially do.’
The court documents reveal how S3 entered the country illegally in July 2005, days after the 7/7 attacks on the London Underground network. He claimed asylum immediately, stating he would be tortured if was sent back to Sudan.
Despite Home Office attempts to deport him, S3 was given indefinite leave to remain in Britain. He was granted British citizenship in 2015.
Last night, former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘This is ridiculous. Judges ought to understand when the Security Services make it clear that someone poses a danger to the British public, he has forfeited his human rights with regards to staying in the UK’
During a four-month stay in Sudan from December 2016, MI5 received intelligence that S3 had become an ISIS propagandist and was disseminating the group’s messages on social media.
At the time, as a Western-led coalition was attacking ISIS in Syria, the group was sending out messages and videos urging extremists to launch terrorist attacks. Membership of ISIS – made infamous by British executioner Mohammed Emwazi, known as ‘Jihadi John’ – was banned and punishable with up to 14 years in jail.
It is not known who S3 associated with in Khartoum, Sudan, during his stay – but at the time, the city’s University of Medical Sciences and Technology had become a major ISIS recruiting ground. More than 20 British medical students studying there went to Syria to join ISIS.
His lawyers argued that the Home Office decision to deprive him of UK citizenship was illegal as it breached Article 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which are the right to life and the right not to be subjected to torture.
Last night, the Home Office declined to comment, saying: ‘It is long-standing Government policy that we do not routinely comment on individual cases.’
MI5 dossier on illegal Sudanese migrant
+++2005+++
September: Enters UK illegally and claims asylum. This is denied.
+++2006+++
April: Immigration judge grants him indefinite leave to remain in Britain. He claims to be a member of the Tunjur tribe of Darfur in Western Sudan who had been tortured by military forces.
The judge concluded that, if he returned home, there was reasonable likelihood that he would be questioned by the Sudanese authorities and may be tortured.
+++2015+++
July: Becomes a British citizen by naturalisation.
+++2016+++
February: Travels to Sudan on British passport.
March: Returns to the UK.
December: Flies to Sudan and applies for a Sudanese residence permit which allows him to enter and exit the country for five years.
During this stay, he’s said to have ‘received and disseminated ISIS propaganda’.
+++2017+++
March: Disseminates to three WhatsApp groups propaganda videos produced by ISIS.
April: Returns to the UK and is interviewed under anti-terror laws. Search of his mobile phone shows ‘a significant volume of Islamist extremist’ material.
MI5 assesses him as a ‘committed Islamist extremist who had demonstrated a commitment to the extremist ideology of ISIS’.
There was ‘a realistic possibility that he would seek to radicalise other individuals and encourage them to engage in Islamist extremist activities’.
MI5 also assesses that his activities ‘could go further’ with a risk of him ‘encouraging others to conduct operational activity in the UK on behalf of ISIS.’
+++2018+++
February: Travels to Sudan. Home Secretary deprives him of his British citizenship on national security grounds.
March: Tries to head back to UK via Turkey using British passport, but is stopped from boarding a connecting flight from Istanbul to Manchester.
April: Returns to Sudan using his UK passport and appeals against Home Office decision to remove his citizenship.
September: Flies to Mecca, then Dublin and enters the UK illegally on a Sudanese passport. Detained for four months and released on bail.
+++2023+++
December: Wins his case at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission against losing British citizenship, and is given lifelong anonymity.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
