As if the case of convicted sex offender Abdul Ezedi—who was smuggled into Britain in 2016 on the back of a lorry before going on to commit a violent chemical attack—couldn’t get any more ridiculous, it has emerged that an asylum judge knew of his lies—but still let him stay.
Journalist Christopher Snowdon argues that “everyone involved in allowing this man to stay in the country should be sacked.” “Or jailed,” added financier Ben Goldsmith. Migration Watch UK Chairman Alp Mehmet also told The European Conservative that “the closer one looks at how Abdul Ezedi came to being granted permission to stay, the more baffling the actions of those involved become.”
Ezedi was allowed to remain in the UK—and, by extension, was able to instigate the London attack on a mother and her two daughters—despite his sexual assault convictions, after a Christian minister said he had converted to Christianity.
A former friend of the attacker last month described this conversion as a “joke.” New reports reveal the truth behind this claim.
Ezedi was interviewed by a Home Office caseworker after saying he had read the Bible every day for three years. Asked what the Old Testament was about, he replied: “Jesus Christ.” Quizzed on what God created on the third day, he responded: “Good Friday and Easter Sunday and Resurrection Day.”
A cynic might say that the average Briton couldn’t offer much more convincing answers to these prompts. True, but that hardly matters here.
What does matter is that the asylum judge in this case expressed concerns about the “honesty of the appellant in relation to certain aspects of his account,” but granted Ezedi asylum anyway due to “compelling evidence” of his Christian conversion given by a retired Baptist minister.
Responding to the latest revelations, Alp Mehmet told this publication:
To be fair to the Home Office, they did try to get rid of this man but the courts and Church of England chose to take Ezedi’s word rather than that of officials. The legal framework we have put in place puts the rights of foreign liars ahead of the British people, their safety and security.
It is time to change this, beginning with revision or repeal of Sir Tony Blair’s 1998 Human Rights Act, which embeds the European Convention on Human Rights in UK law.
Alongside images of Ezedi handing out church leaflets in Newcastle, the supporting bundle which contributed to the evidence of his Christian conversion included a safeguarding contract created following his conviction, which said he must “stay in the vicinity of at least one of the male supporters named in this contract” while at church in order “to safeguard the wellbeing of all those involved in church life.”
Baptists Together, which reportedly helped to draw up this contract, is quoted in The Times reminding Christians of the Bible teaching to “welcome the stranger.” Perhaps it should be noted again that Ezedi was not simply a stranger, but a convicted sex offender and, ultimately, a violent assailant armed with a corrosive substance. He is now dead, having been found in the Thames following a three-week manhunt.
