British Govt Failed to Deport 45 Convicted Terrorists After Release From Prison: Report

BRADFORD, ENGLAND - APRIL 14: The Suffa Tul Islam Central Mosque in the mulit cultural Bra
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Kurt Zindulka

The British government has failed to deport nearly 50 foreign Islamic terrorists after they were released from prison, a report from a foreign policy think tank has found.

Analysis of Home Office and Crown Prosecution Service records by the Henry Jackson Society has revealed that over the past twenty years, some 45 terrorists have been able to remain in the UK after their release from prison.

The findings of the report, which were partially published in The Telegraph, also reveal that ten of the convicts were jailed for non-terror related crimes that should have triggered their removal from the country.

The failure to deport one such terrorist resulted in the tragic death of three men in Reading over the summer, as Khairi Saadallah went on a murderous rampage with a knife. The Lybian-born terrorist was previously convicted 11 times, yet because of human rights fears, the UK currently does not deport anyone to Libya.

Saadallah was released from prison just 16 days before committing the heinous attack. It was later revealed that he was on an MI5 watch list for suspected terrorists.

His case also raised issues within the UK’s asylum system, as he was granted asylum status in 2018, despite having previously been convicted of violent offences on multiple occasions.

The executive director of the Henry Jackson Society and the author of the report, Dr Rakib Ehsan said: “Unfortunately, the case of Libyan refugee Khairi Saadallah demonstrates how the UK’s benevolence and altruism have been to its detriment.

“It is deeply concerning that a man who had a history of assaulting an emergency worker and knife-related offences, was not deported due to human rights concerns and ultimately given the opportunity to stab three people to death in an English market town.”

“Even more worrying is the fact that there are foreign convicted terrorists who have been released from prison who are still walking the streets. They collectively represent a serious risk pool in British society,” Dr Ehsan said.

“The UK Government must change legislation to better facilitate the deportation of foreign criminals, and create an asylum system where national security is prioritised,” he concluded.

Out of the 45 known convicted terrorists flagged by the think tank, five were from Libya, while others hailed from Sudan, Pakistan, Eritrea and Somalia.

The report also claimed that eighteen of the released terrorists have links to radical Islamic terror organisations, such as al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and the so-called Islamic State.

The Henry Jackson Society called on the government to prioritise the deportation of foreign terrorist offenders, arguing that it should “form an integral part of post-Brexit national security”.

It also suggested the creation of an Asylum Reform Taskforce, in order to prevent criminals from staying indefinitely under the current refugee protocols.

They went on to call for the cessation of foreign aid to countries such as Lybia, who fail to improve human rights issues that prevent Britain from returning criminals or terrorists.

Meanwhile, it is expected that approximately 100 convicted terrorist will be released onto the streets of Britain starting from next month. The terrorists will be released after having served partial prison sentences, as is customary in the UK.

It is not currently known, how many of these convicted terrorists are foreign-born, or if they will face deportation.

Following a series of Islamic terror attacks in France and in Vienna, Home Secretary Priti Patel announced earlier this month that the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (Jtac) has raised the terror threat level in the UK to “severe“, meaning that a terror attack is “highly likely”.

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