How sex offender Abdul Ezeidi gained asylum before Clapham chemical attack

A Clapham chemical attack suspect has been granted asylum after convincing a judge he was a Christian convert, despite concerns he had “fabricated” parts of his story.

A trove of immigration documents shows that a judge had rejected Abdul Ezedi’s asylum application in 2017 because they did not believe he had converted to Christianity within weeks.

Three years later, however, he was allowed to stay after successfully persuading another judge on appeal, arguing that his new Christian faith could lead to him being persecuted if he was sent back to Afghanistan.

His successful claim was backed by the Baptist pastor of a church in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, which he joined shortly after arriving in the UK in 2016.

Shockingly, the appeal decision allowing him to stay (dated 10 November 2020) made no mention at all of his conviction for sex offenses two years ago.

In 2018, he was given a suspended sentence and placed on the sex offenders register after pleading guilty to one charge of sexual assault and one count of exposure.

The former car mechanic, who suffers from depression and anxiety, told immigration officials he was talking to himself and worried about the attack on his ex-partner and her two young children in Clapham, south London, in January this year Horrible chemical attack. Year.

He is believed to have fallen from Chelsea Bridge hours after the attack and his body was later pulled from the Thames.

According to court documents obtained by media organizations, Ezeidi arrived in the UK on January 8, 2016 and applied for asylum.

Originally a Shia Muslim, he told immigration officials that he became interested in Christianity soon after arriving in the UK, while living with an Iranian man who went to church and read the Bible.

He began attending Grange Road Baptist Church in February of that year and went on to complete Alpha Christian classes before being baptized in June 2018.

Since then, he said he has been active in street ministry in Newcastle, handing out religious leaflets.

According to his account, he was shot in the leg by the Taliban and his home was bombed in Afghanistan – adding that the penalty for converting to Islam under Sharia law is death.

But in 2017 Judge Gribble, sitting at the first level tribunal, found that inconsistencies in his account “paint a completely unreliable and inconsistent picture and lack credibility”.

Judge Gribble said he did not believe his conversion was genuine and rejected his asylum application, adding that his attendance at church services and baptisms did not constitute compelling evidence that he would face danger if returned to Afghanistan. Real risk of persecution.

However, at a new appeal hearing in 2020, another judge concluded that despite concerns about Ezeidi’s honesty, his conversion was genuine.

The court also heard oral submissions from Grange Road Baptist Church pastor Roy Merrin in support of Ezeidi.

The priest said in evidence that he had appeared in court four times previously to support applicants seeking asylum because of Christian conversions, but insisted he only supported those who had genuinely converted to Christianity.

In his ruling, Judge O’Hanlon said: “Having fully considered all the evidence before me, and despite my concerns about the appellant’s honesty in certain aspects of his statement, I find that the appellant was consistent in his statements about his Among the evidences of conversion to Christianity.

“I find that the appellant’s version of his conversion to Christianity is supported by former pastor Merlin, who had known him for more than four years and who had seen the appellant regularly throughout that period, and who was convinced that the appellant was a genuine Christian convert .

“Former pastor Merlin was aware that there might be an unreasonable claim to Christian conversion but did not accept that this was the case for the appellant.

“Having considered all these factors, I am satisfied by the lower standard of proof that the appellant has genuinely converted from his previous Muslim faith to Christianity and therefore, as the respondent accepted in his refusal letter, will be At risk. Therefore, I allow his asylum appeal.”

A nationwide outcry over Ezeidi began after his ex-partner and her two daughters, aged three and eight, were doused in a corrosive liquid in a horrific chemical attack in Clapham, south London. Dee’s manhunt.

A total of 12 people have required hospital treatment following a “targeted” alkaline attack on Lessar Avenue on January 31, with the 31-year-old mother suffering potentially life-changing injuries.

He is believed to have traveled to the capital from Newcastle to carry out the attack, which also left him with serious injuries to his face.

The search was eventually called off after detectives tracked the suspect on CCTV to Chelsea Bridge, where he was seen leaning on a railing and believed to have jumped into the Thames.

Last month, police identified the body recovered from the water as that of the 35-year-old suspect. The body was found near Tower Bridge in London on February 19 and was later formally identified during an autopsy.

However, questions have been raised about why Ezedi, who is from Afghanistan, was granted asylum despite being convicted of sex crimes in 2018.

The Crown Prosecution Service confirmed he admitted one charge of sexual assault and one count of exposure at Newcastle Crown Court on January 9, 2018, and was given a suspended sentence. The 35-year-old was placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years but was allowed to remain in the UK because his offenses were not serious enough to meet the deportation threshold.

His asylum application was rejected twice and he later successfully appealed the Home Office rejection by claiming he had converted to Christianity.

Following the attack, former immigration secretary Robert Jenrick called on the home secretary to review Ezeidi’s asylum case and see “where something might have gone seriously wrong”.

Right-wing Tory hardliner claimed on BBC Radio 4 today Program: “I’m afraid we do see on a regular basis people falsely claiming to be converted to Christianity, aided and abetted by well-meaning but naive ministers and priests.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also wrote to James Cleverly about “very serious questions that need to be answered about the Home Office’s decision-making and the way cases are handled”.

Ms Cooper asked whether the Home Office had “considered deportation” after Ezedi’s conviction in 2018, or whether a “representation” had been made about his criminal history when he was granted asylum.

She added: “It is truly concerning that a convicted foreign sex offender was allowed to remain in the UK under these circumstances.”

However, Sasha Deshmukh, head of Amnesty International UK, warned that the attack “should not be used as an excuse to target asylum seekers”.