Clapham chemical attack: How was a convicted sex offender granted asylum in the UK?
The suspected chemical attacker who targeted a woman and children is still at large, and the focus is on the police finding hm.
But inside government, serious questions are starting to be raised about how a convicted sex offender is understood to have been granted asylum, after being handed a suspended jail sentence.
Abdul Shokoor Ezedi is understood to have arrived in the UK in a lorry in 2016.
Two years later he was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court after pleading guilty to one charge of sexual assault and one of exposure.
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It’s understood that after having an asylum claim rejected twice – highly unusually for an Afghan national – it was then accepted on appeal, most likely by an asylum tribunal after he claimed to have converted to Christianity.
All this will need further investigation by the Home Office, but former immigration minister Robert Jenrick claims that false conversions are a familiar story in the asylum system – and can be used by judges to overturn decisions made by the Home Office.
We heard it before with Emad al Swealmeen, the terrorist carrying an explosive device who blew himself up outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital in 2021, killing himself and injuring a taxi driver.
He had converted to Christianity and there were big questions asked at the time about whether it was used to allow him to claim asylum.
Government ministers are insisting that cases of this kind highlight the need for their Rwanda legislation – to limit appeals by failed asylum seekers and allow them to be deported to third countries if they cannot return to their home country.
The children’s minister, David Johnston, told Sky News the government was “determined to end the asylum merry-go-round because we’ve seen a number of cases reported in the media where the British public do not understand why certain people are able to continually challenge asylum decisions… and that’s very much what the Safety of Rwanda Bill is all about”.
But those working with asylum seekers point out that most of those claiming asylum are not criminals and 75% of asylum applications are accepted.
Half of those rejected are then allowed on appeal.
There is already a backlash from Conservative backbenchers calling for a harder line on immigration, who fear the Rwanda bill will not do enough.
As well as questions about why he was allowed to stay in the UK and who made the decision, there are also big questions about the fact that according to data from police forces gathered by the charity Acid Survivors Trust – the UK has seen a big increase in attacks using corrosive substances to more than 700 in 2022.
Details are still being established, but this horrifying case could be a big political moment – both for those who want to use it to point to government failures and those inside government – who will insist they are trying to change the system.