London chemical attack suspect, Abdul Ezedi was not deported despite being convicted of sex crime. Here’s why

As the manhunt for suspected chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi resumed on Monday (Feb 12) after the police found two “unexpected” bodies in the River Thames amid the search, a report by The Times claims to have found how migrants convicted of murders and sex crimes escape deportation from the United Kingdom.

Police resume search for Ezedi

The police, on Saturday (Feb 10) recovered two male bodies in theRiver Thames whilesearching for Ezedi, the suspect behind the chemical attack, which left several people in Clapham, south London injured after he allegedly threwa “corrosive substance” at them.

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However, as per British media reports, it is also understood that the bodies were found not as a direct result of the search operation for the chemical attack suspect and neither of the bodies was identified as that of Ezedi.

ALSO READ |London chemical attack: Cops looking for suspect recover 2 bodies unrelated to case from River Thames

The police said that it is believed that the chemical attack suspect had “gone in the water” a few hours after the attack on January 31. They later said he may have drowned.

How did Ezedi manage to stay in the UK?

A report by The Times, a British daily newspaper, on Monday, said that it found that over the years migrants, including those convicted of murder and sex crimes, have managed to avoid being deported claiming that they have converted to Christianity.

According to the report, migrants in UK courts have argued that if they returned to their home countries they would be persecuted due to their apparent conversion.

In Ezedi’s case, he arrived in the UK illegally in 2016 after fleeing from Afghanistan and was granted refugee status by 2022 on his third attempt. This was despite him pleading guilty to sexual assault and exposure charges in 2018.

He was granted refugee status on the basis that he had apparently converted to Christianity after an appeal tribunal – Upper Tribunal’s immigration and asylum chamber, the final stage of legal appeal before deportation – ruled in his favour.

The grant came after a priest vouched for Ezedi saying that he had converted to Christianity. It is understood the priest in question was not Roman Catholic or from the Church of England.

Both the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales have since denied that the chemical attack suspect was converted to the faith via their denominations.

ALSO READ |UK: London chemical attacker may have drowned in Thames, say police

Additionally, Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle, in a statement said they “found nothing” to suggest Ezedi had become a Catholic but they are still looking into it.

Therefore, there is no evidence that the chemical attack suspect converted to Christianity, while the case has led to scrutiny over religious asylum.

The UK has witnessed an unprecedented surge in the number of asylum seekers arriving in the country in recent years, resulting in a heated debate among lawmakers on how to control illegal migration.

In the wake of the attack, members of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s ruling Tory party called on him to reform its policy on asylum seekers saying that Ezedi should have never been granted asylum.

(With inputs from agencies)