The murder plot terrorist we can’t deport because it would violate his ‘human rights’
A FOREIGN-BORN terrorist who plotted to murder scores of British commuters is using European human rights laws to block his deportation and stop police from monitoring his activities, The Mail on Sunday understands.
Wahbi Mohammed was jailed for his role in planning the ‘21/7’ bombings – a failed attempt on July 21, 2005, to replicate the 7/7 bomb attacks which killed 52 in London two weeks earlier.
Mohammed, a Somali immigrant, was released on bail in 2013, and his lawyers have since used human rights laws to resist his deportation. They claim the supposed risk of him being tortured if he was flown back to the East African country would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Mohammed’s bail period expired several weeks ago, and his lawyers have used Article 3 to stop his continued surveillance, claiming it amounts to a form of torture, the MoS understands. It means police and MI5 have been unable to monitor the terrorist’s activities and movements.
It is understood Home Secretary Suella Braverman has given up on trying to deport Mohammed, and has given him six months’ leave to remain in Britain. When this term comes to an end, he will be given another six months, after which it will be renewed again and again.
The case will increase pressure from within the Tory party for Rishi Sunak to prioritise repealing measures in the ECHR. Were it not for the European rules, under UK law the Home Secretary could have deported Mohammed long ago.
Boris Johnson’s administration promised in early 2022 to introduce over-riding legislation after a judge in Strasbourg blocked flights removing asylum seekers to Rwanda. But some critics – reported to include Ms Braverman herself – have privately urged Mr Sunak to
Braverman has given up trying to deport him
remove the influence of the European court altogether. Ms Braverman believes the Prime Minister’s plans to tackle the Channel migrant crisis, including a law that will ‘make unambiguously clear that if you enter the UK illegally you should not be able to remain here’, do not go far enough, and she has proposed tougher legislation to circumvent Strasbourg rulings.
Led by ringleader Muktar Said Ibrahim, 44, the 21/7 attacks failed when the home-made explosives the four bombers carried in their rucksacks misfired.
Mohammed, now 39, is the younger brother of Ramzi Mohammed, 40, who tried to blow himself up on a train at Oval station. Ramzi is serving a life sentence with a minimum of 40 years behind bars.
Wahbi Mohammed stood trial with four others at Kingston Crown Court in 2008, accused of assisting the 21/7 bombers. The five were accused of providing the would-be suicide gang with safe houses, passports, clothing, food and assistance during their escape.
Wahbi Mohammed was found guilty of having knowledge of the plot, as well as helping the bombers before and after the attacks, and was jailed for 17 years. It was reduced to 13 years on appeal.
During the trial, the jury heard that Wahbi Mohammed was in a flat in Dalgarno Gardens in North when the 21/7 bombers set off for the attack. He even encouraged them by showing them jihadi videos, and took possession of the gang’s video camera with which they filmed their so-called martyrdom videos.
After the bungled attacks, Mohammed helped his brother by giving him a mobile phone, SIM card, charger and food, as his elder sibling hid at the Dalgarno Gardens flat with ringleader Ibrahim.
Days later, police arrested Ramzi Mohammed and Ibrahim at the flat by making them first come out on to a balcony near-naked with their hands raised.
The grainy footage of the two bare-chested terrorists with their arms in the air pleading with the police not to shoot was beamed across the world. Wahbi Mohammed was arrested a mile away at his council flat in West London. He spent most of his sentence at Belmarsh maximum-security prison in South-East London.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that his trial and appeal hearings at the High Court cost the taxpayer £3.9 million.
In June 2020, Mohammed gave an interview to a newspaper saying how the Prevent deradicalisation programme in prison did not work, as most inmates saw jail imams as Government stooges.
He told The Sun: ‘My experiences of it were very bad. It was so hitKensington
and-miss. Counsellors came in with a textbook on how to deradicalise an extremist and went on to apply it on you before they even knew who, as a person, you were.
‘I felt like they did not know exactly what they were trying to achieve, and hence I felt like a guinea pig. It felt sterile, devoid of care and humanity and simply like a roll-call of counter-arguments that they came up with.’
The Home Office has argued that legislation could sidestep the ECHR’s rulings by using ‘notwithstanding clauses’, which would direct UK courts to ignore the Strasbourg court’s rulings in specific cases. Ms Braverman said this would increase deportations, because judges would not block them on human rights grounds.
At a fringe meeting at the Tory party conference, Ms Braverman said Britain should leave the ECHR completely, but added that it was only her personal opinion.
She said: ‘I was pretty blunt about this issue in my leadership campaign. My position personally is that ultimately we do need to leave the ECHR.’ She added that the UK should not be ‘subject to an institution born out of the post-war era which is a bit analogue’.
At present, more than 148,000 asylum seekers are waiting for their claims to be processed by the Home Office and the courts.
It is understood No 10 is concerned about being seen to be trying to ‘ride roughshod’ over international law, in the wake of Mr Johnson’s attempt to over-ride the Northern Ireland Protocol, which was negotiated as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
The Home Office said last night: ‘We do not routinely comment on individual cases.’