Muslim burial for Christian Clapham attacker
Abdul Ezedi’s funeral was conducted by west London mosque despite claimed conversion to new faith
THE Clapham chemical attacker was given a Muslim funeral and burial despite converting to Christianity to claim UK asylum.
Abdul Ezedi, an Afghan national, had been at the centre of a manhunt after attacking a 31-year-old mother and her two daughters with a corrosive substance in south London in January.
Immigration files published yesterday showed the convicted sex offender had twice been refused asylum by the Home Office. But when he later insisted he had converted to Christianity and obtained the endorsement of a Baptist priest he was granted leave to remain.
The dossier showed Ezedi had repeatedly failed to answer basic questions about Christianity, lied about his past and was deemed such a sexual threat that a special worshipping agreement was put in place for him to attend a church in Jarrow, South Tyneside.
It is understood that Ezedi’s family and friends requested that he should be given a Muslim funeral and burial after his body was found in the River Thames last month. It raises the prospect that those closest to him did not believe he had abandoned his Muslim faith.
The Telegraph revealed last month how Ezedi was known in Newcastle, where he lived, to be a devout Muslim who observed Ramadan and only ate Halal food.
His funeral was conducted by a mosque in west London, and he was given a Muslim burial at a cemetery in east London on March 11, the BBC has claimed. He is not thought to have been known to the mosque that buried him.
The Muslim funeral director, who did not want to be named, told the broadcaster: “As a funeral directors, we don’t look into people’s past, we look at how we can help in a situation.
“Our job was just to provide a dignified burial for the deceased.”
The BBC claimed some worshippers, many of whom had an Afghan background, said Ezedi had not been a worshipper there.
The mosque, which often conducts funerals for asylum seekers who die alone, asks for donations from regular worshippers to help contribue towards their costs.
But when it asked for contributions in Ezedi’s case, some people were said to have been upset.
One worshipper, who did not want to be identified, said Ezedi, 35, had “attacked innocent people” and converted to Christianity, adding that it was “the responsibility of the church to bury him according to his new belief or religion, not the mosque”.
Individual cases can often tell a story far better than a welter of statistics. The way Abdul Ezedi, who attacked a woman and her children in Clapham, south London, was granted asylum in this country encapsulates everything that is wrong with the system.
The Afghan national had twice been refused asylum by the Home Office and had even been convicted of sex offences. Not only was he allowed to stay when he should have been deported but he was given a third opportunity to apply for asylum. This time he was successful after a judge was persuaded that he had converted to Christianity and would be in danger if he returned home.
We only know this because this newspaper and other media organisations insisted on seeing details of the ruling. Only after applications were made did the First Tier Tribunal, which handles immigration and asylum applications, give out the paperwork.
This raises further questions over judicial secrecy in this country following the disclosure by The Telegraph that a record number of cases – mainly motoring and TV licence offences – are being prosecuted behind closed doors under the Single Justice Procedure (SJP). The old adage that “justice must be seen to be done” once underpinned the legal system, yet finding out what goes on in some courts is increasingly difficult.
If the reasons for overturning Home Office decisions on asylum are not made public, then how is anyone to know whether the proper procedures have been followed? In Ezedi’s case, even though he had lied persistently about his background, Judge William O’hanlon believed his conversion was genuine and allowed his appeal on human rights grounds. Ezedi drowned in the Thames after the Clapham attack and was buried according to Muslim funeral rites.
This is part of a worrying trend. The courts are increasingly overturning Home Office decisions to deny asylum. The proportion of successful appeals has risen from 29 per cent in 2010 to 51 per cent in 2023. The judiciary will argue that they are just implementing the law, but a number of questions arise. First, deportations of illegal migrants convicted of crimes should be carried out automatically, but aren’t. Why not? Second, how is it possible that, when the Home Office makes a decision to reject an asylum claim, it can be challenged not once but three times? The system is broken and it is time the Government repaired it.