A migrant suspected of carrying out a chemical attack on a mother and her two daughters is a convicted sex offender who was allowed to stay in the UK after a priest said he had converted to Christianity. As of Friday evening, he was still at large.
Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, is at the center of a nationwide manhunt after the “targeted” attack in Clapham, London, on Wednesday evening, which police say left the mother and one of his daughters with “potentially life-changing” injuries. Her other daughter was also injured, as were three passers-by and five police officers.
On Thursday evening it emerged that Ezedi had entered the UK illegally in 2016 after arriving from Afghanistan in the back of a truck. He was twice refused asylum and, in 2018, was convicted of “sexual assault/exposure” and given a suspended prison sentence.
Despite his criminal convictions, The telegraph reports that he was then granted “leave of residence” – permission to remain in the country – in 2021 or 2022 after claiming to have converted to Christianity. A priest vouched for his conversion and said he was “totally committed” to the faith. Ezedi argued that he would be persecuted if deported to his native Afghanistan.
Witnesses to Wednesday’s horrific attack say Ezedi threw a corrosive substance, later confirmed to be alkali, at the mother and her daughters, leaving the woman screaming “my eyes, my eyes”. Then he picked up one of the children, held her in the air and “crushed her to the ground”.
Ezedi then tried to flee in a car, hitting the woman in the process, before hitting another vehicle and fleeing on foot. He was last seen later that evening in north London.
A witness said THE Telegraph the attack appears to have been committed “out of pure hatred”.
What was so strange was that he was so calm about it. How can you do this to a child? How can you do this to a woman?
Police said Ezedi was also injured in the attack and released a photo of him severely disfigured on Thursday evening.
The Home Office is now under pressure to explain why Ezedi was granted permission to stay despite his conviction for a sexual offence.
Lee Anderson, former vice-president of the Conservative Party, said The telegraph:
Granting asylum should be subject to a condition that if you commit a crime, you return to your country. He cannot claim that he is being persecuted and at risk when he comes to the UK and commits crimes.
This should apply whether it is shoplifting or another crime. It would make us a safer country. They should find him and send him back immediately. No joke.
Miriam Cates, who is co-chair of the New Conservative MP group, echoed Anderson’s comments:
This man should never have been granted asylum in this country and we need to get to the bottom of how he was allowed to stay. It reminds us of the huge security threat this country faces from the thousands of illegal migrants entering the UK every year.
Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister who resigned last year over the government’s plan for Rwanda, called on the interior minister to carry out a detailed review of Ezedi’s case.
He said BBC Radio 4 Today Friday morning program:
From what little we know about this case, it appears that this is an individual whose asylum or humanitarian protection in the United Kingdom was granted by a court, therefore probably by a judge rather than by officials of the Ministry of the Interior, despite the fact that he was convicted of a crime. sexual offense and on the basis of evidence that…could very well be spurious or unfounded, such as this suggestion that he had converted to Christianity. I think we need to investigate the particular circumstances.
In November 2021, it emerged that a terrorist who blew himself up outside a Liverpool maternity hospital had falsely converted to Christianity before making his latest asylum claim. Emad al-Swealmeen, 32, was baptized and confirmed at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral in 2017, but police found a Quran and a prayer rug in his flat after the attack.
The attack sparked widespread unease about the failures of Britain’s asylum system, coinciding with criticism of police for slowly staggering the release of details about the suspect (most often referred to as “a man”) during the first few hours sensitive to time. the manhunt.
