One man claimed he was gay – when that ploy failed he became a Christian. How even vicars admit the Church has been hoodwinked by asylum seekers
be beheaded if he was returned to the country, which turned out to be ‘wholly fabricated’.
Details of his claim, on the register of tribunal appeals, make farcical reading. His new story, after admitting he wasn’t in fact gay, namely that he had found God during imprisonment for cannabis production, possessing amphetamines and resisting a policeman, resulted in a deportation order against him being dropped. The Home Office eventually successfully appealed, but only for the case to be sent back — yes, you’ve guessed it — to the first tribunal, in around 2021. His application was supported with church photos and baptism and confirmation certificates. The claimant, who is 43, came to Britain in 2001 and, despite his lies and criminality, is almost certainly still here, courtesy, in no small part, of the church.
We now know that Abdul Ezedi, 33, who lived in Newcastle, was in contact with a number of different churches on Tyneside.
His application was approved by an immigration judge after he claimed that he had converted to Christianity and would be persecuted if he returned to Afghanistan, even though two previous appeals had been rejected, even though he had convictions for sexual assault and indecent exposure, and even though he had been put on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.
He is not the first ‘Christian convert’ to make the front pages.
Emad Al- Swealmeen, who detonated a bomb outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital on Remembrance Sunday in 2021, had been confirmed at Liverpool Cathedral four years earlier in 2017 after completing an Alpha course, a popular introduction and route to Christianity.
He said his life would be in danger if he returned to the Middle East.
Two applications for asylum had been rejected and a third was under appeal when he struck.
A copy of the Koran and a prayer mat were later found in his flat.
A recently retired immigration judge with 20 years’ experience
‘One didn’t know who Jesus was’
told us that asylum seekers are increasingly ‘gaming the system’ with the support, innocent or otherwise, of the church. ‘There would typically be someone senior there from the church, not necessarily the vicar, who would say they are certain the person has truly come to faith,’ he said.
‘Properly coached, there are no grounds for the tribunal to disbelieve them. I probably only rejected one or two because they did not know the answer to basic questions like when Christmas is or who Jesus was.’
The judge added: ‘There are fashions. There were a lot of people gaining the right to remain here ten or 15 years ago through sham marriages to European citizens. Then there was the time when it was easy to get leave to remain on the grounds of sexuality.’
According to Home Office data, sexual orientation formed part of the basis for an asylum claim in seven per cent of all applications in 2017. By 2021, that figure had fallen to one per cent.
Claims from converted Christians, on the other hand, have steadily risen in the judge’s experience and were ‘ wide open to abuse’. ‘It really appeared to have taken off during my time as a judge and has probably only got worse since I retired.’
Is there any evidence the Church of England is addressing the problem? Probably not, judging by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s tweet this week.