Latest news with #ShamimaBegum
Telegraph
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Loophole that lets terrorists enter UK to be closed
Suspected terrorists will no longer be able to exploit a loophole that allows them to enter Britain despite being stripped of citizenship. Ministers are to pass legislation that will ensure citizenship is not automatically reinstated if terrorists successfully appeal against a decision to strip them of it. The loophole, identified by the Supreme Court, would mean that they could return to the UK while the Government sought to overturn the successful appeal. The terror suspects could then renounce any other citizenship that they had, which would mean that Britain would have no option but to allow them to stay in the UK and could not deport them. Under international law, governments cannot render a person stateless by stripping them of their citizenship if they are not citizens of another country. 'An essential tool' Official data suggests more than 1,000 Britons were deprived of their citizenship between 2010 and 2023, including Shamima Begum, one of three east London schoolgirls who travelled to Syria in 2015 to support the IS group. She fought a series of high-profile legal battles to return to the UK after being stripped of her citizenship in 2019, but has remained unsuccessful. It mirrors the case of two Pakistani members of one of the most notorious grooming gangs in Rotherham, whom the Government stripped of their British citizenship. Qari Abdul Rauf, a 55-year-old father of five and Adil Khan, 54, were jailed for their part in sexually assaulting 47 girls. They subsequently renounced their Pakistani citizenship, effectively declaring themselves stateless. Pakistan is refusing to take them back on the basis that they have renounced their citizenship and are regarded as dangerous criminals. Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said: 'Protecting our national security and keeping the British public safe is the first duty of this government and the foundation of our Plan for Change. The power to deprive someone of their British citizenship is an essential tool, and helps protect us from some of the most dangerous people. 'We must close this gap in the law and prevent British citizenship being reinstated to individuals until all appeals have been determined. This is the right thing to do if we believe someone is a threat to our national security, and it will make Britain safer.' For the public good The Home Office said deprivation decisions on 'conducive to the public good' grounds were taken only in the most serious cases by the Home Secretary, where it is in the public interest to do so because of the individual's conduct or the threat they pose to the UK. About 222 of the those deprived of citizenship between 2010-2023 were for the public good. In 2018, the number of appeals reached a record high of 88 as the UK sought to counter the threat from Islamic state fighters returning home. That was up from just five in 2011. The change in the law follows the similar approach taken in asylum and human rights appeals cases, where asylum is not granted to a person appealing a rejection until all further appeals, up to the Court of Appeal, have been determined. Home Office officials said the narrowly focused Bill, consisting of two clauses, made no change to a person's existing right to appeal any decision to remove their British citizenship, and did not widen the reasons for which a person could be deprived of their citizenship.
Scottish Sun
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
I met ISIS bride Shamima Begum in prison camp – I felt sorry for her but saw true colours when I gave her wrong ‘gift'
SHAMIMA SHAM I met ISIS bride Shamima Begum in prison camp – I felt sorry for her but saw true colours when I gave her wrong 'gift' AS Andrew Drury made his way through a Syrian camp looking for notorious ISIS bride Shamima Begum, his mind began to race. Although the intrepid filmmaker had been in far more perilous situations - his nerves started to get the better of him. Advertisement 7 Andrew Drury with Jihadi bride Shamima Begum Credit: Supplied 7 The filmmaker said his view of Begum changed as he got to know her Credit: Supplied 7 The Al-Roj camp in north-eastern Syria where Begum lives Credit: AFP But when he was introduced to Begum - who left the UK aged 15 to join ISIS a decade ago in 2015 - he was taken aback. "She was very shaky, very nervous, very shut, emotional, tearful," Andrew told The Sun. Advertisement Father-of-four Andrew met Begum, who grew up in East London, for the first of six times at the Al-Roj camp in Syria in June 2021 while filming for a documentary, Danger Zone. He initially felt sorry for Begum, then 21, and became a close confidant of the Jihadi bride - even securing a Bafta-nominated live interview with her for Good Morning Britain. In less than two years his view of Begum - accused of serving in the feared IS "morality police" and helping make suicide vests - completely changed, however. He saw a colder side when she talked about how the death of her three children no longer upset her and even expressed support of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi. Extreme adventurer Andrew, who has made treacherous journeys to North Korea and Iraq, said at first Begum was a "thin, ill-looking, sad character" who was "very apologetic". Advertisement "We took a long walk around the camp, She started to relax, and she said she used to take this regular walk right around the perimeter of the camp to clear her head," he said. "After the interview finished, we walked back to the room. Normally she'd go off to a tent, but she wanted to come back to the room to get a cold drink. "Then I didn't want to insult her at that point, I wanted to say goodbye - I thought I'd never see her again. How Shamima Begum camps are fermenting twisted next generation of ISIS as kids make 'cutthroat' gesture & hurl firebombs "I said, 'Can I shake your hand?' and she asked for a hug. "So she gave me a hug and started to cry." Advertisement Andrew, from Surrey, said he felt they had formed a connection and believed she regretted turning her back on Western society to join the murderous death cult. "At that point I kind of believed that she was sincere," he said. I actually don't think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it Andrew Drury "I kind of felt sorry for her. I thought at that point she'd been radicalised online, sent out as a prescribed bridge to somebody. "She said she'd made a real bad mistake and really regretted what she'd done. "She owned up to being this person that everybody hates in the UK. Advertisement "And I felt sorry for her, I've got young daughters, not a lot of difference in age, so I thought people do make mistakes, and I should give her a chance." Andrew - whose book Trip Hazard details his experience in dangerous areas - returned to the camp months later after GMB asked for his help to get an interview with Begum. The author, who has exchanged hundreds of messages with Begum, said he noticed a "subtle change" in the former Brit. Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019, appeared to have undergone a more "Western" makeover - ditching her hijab and abaya. 7 Andrew secured the Bafta-nominated live interview with Begum for Good Morning Britain Credit: Alamy Advertisement 7 Begum, then 19, pictured in 2019 Credit: Times Media Ltd 7 The former Brit at the camp in 2021 Credit: Getty "She had changed as a character," Andrew said. "She was more short. She wasn't this nervous-cry sort of character. "She looked assured, and she didn't seem such a waif character, and she seemed to be in control of herself and her emotions." Advertisement Andrew told how Begum spent the night before the live interview "rehearsing" with three of her friends In the camp, which is controlled by armed guards. He added: "Her friends said they'd had their music playing and they were tutoring Shamima what to say. "They seemed pretty together about what she should say, and they were schooling her." Begum married an IS fighter soon after arriving in Syria and went on to have three children, none of whom survived. Andrew - who said he had formed a "bond" with Begum - told how after the interview, Shamima opened her purse and showed him photos of her children. Advertisement The tragic loss of his own brother Robert as a child made him sympathise with Shamima's plight. "One of them was a scene where the child must have been eight, nine months old, had chocolate around his face," he recalled. "I said, 'What's that?' and she said, 'Oh we used to like baking cakes'. "And it actually makes me quite sad. It was really quite sad knowing the child had died. "She made it sound like an honour that she had shared these pictures with me, which I guess it probably was, because she hadn't shared them before she said." Advertisement 7 But it was Begum's attitude after Andrew returned to the UK that shocked him - and began to shatter their relationship. "I said to her, 'Those pictures you showed me really upset me, I hope you're okay'," he said. "She messaged back and said, 'Oh, they don't bother me anymore. That doesn't make me sad'. "I thought, was that because she's been traumatised so badly? Advertisement "But I think she is that hard. I think she's calculated. "I actually don't think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it." After meeting Andrew a couple of times, Begum started asking him to bring stuff into the camp for her - including clothes. The dad said he felt "at a crossroads" about whether to take what she wanted. "I felt bad and guilty that I'd be taking somebody that carried out what could have been some atrocities, clothes," he said. Advertisement "But then, probably on the soft side of me, and the fact is, she was a young girl, so I was playing with these emotions, but I took her the clothes from Primark. "We had a bundle of stuff, we took some toys for the children because it's not their fault." But then Begum's requests started turning into demands, Andrew said. "The messages continued," he added. Camps breeding next ISIS generation Exclusive by Henry Holloway, Deputy Foreign Editor and Alan Duncan A CHILD no older than eight draws his hand across his neck in a chilling throat-slitting gesture - the message is clear, "You are not welcome here". Other kids hurl stones, shout and scream - while one exasperated camp official shows us CCTV of two youngsters hurling a firebomb. Welcome to camps al-Hol and al-Roj in northern Syria - the fates of which remain uncertain after the fall of tyrant Bashar al-Assad. It is warned these stark detention centres are now the breeding ground for the next generation of the bloodthirsty cult. And much of this new wave of radicalisation is feared to be coming from the mothers inside the camps. Senior camp official Rashid Omer said: "The reality is - they are not changing. This is not a normal camp - this a bomb." He went on: "They are saying it was ISIS who 'liberated' Damascus - and soon they will be coming here." "And then they want to spread to Europe, to Africa, and then to everywhere." The two sprawling sites hold a total of nearly 60,000 including ISIS fighters, families and children. At least 6,000 Westerners are still held among them - including infamous jihadi bride Shamima Begum, the 25-year-old from London. READ MORE HERE "This time they became slightly more angry, slightly more direct." Advertisement Before he planned to return to Syria again, Begum told him she wanted two books - Guantanamo Bay Diaries and Sea Prayer - which is inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis. Andrew said she was also being schooled by her lawyer about her media presence. He added: "What she declared by then is that she was hostage in a prison camp - where they were legally held. "That's how she started to see herself. All apologies had gone. "She'd done a documentary with the BBC and was on the front of The Times magazine. Advertisement "She'd become a celebrity and was loving all the attention. She'd read all the newspaper articles." Andrew - who returned to the camp with a friend and no crew - took some clothes for Begum with him. I could see things in her I didn't like. I didn't trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive Andrew Drury But it was his decision not to take the books she had demanded that revealed her true colours. "I did go back again, but my feelings were already changing towards her," Andrew said. "It was a little boy's birthday, and I felt so sorry for him. Advertisement "He wanted a Superman outfit, so I would have gone just for that, because I spend a lot of time in refugee camps. It's not fair for these kids. "I didn't take the books Shamima wanted because I didn't want to. I didn't want her to have that opportunity to what I saw as studying how to be a victim. "She opened the clothes, said she didn't like them. I mean, this is a girl in a prison camp. "She said, 'I didn't really care about the clothes, it was the books I wanted'. So she became quite aggressive in her nature." Begum's attitude then worsened when Andrew became interested in another girl's story. Advertisement It was one of the final nails in the coffin in the bond Andrew believed they had initially formed. "Shamima had a tantrum that the attention had been taken away from her," he said. "She was like a child that was pretending they were ill. "So during this period of time I was beginning to feel like the connection was gone. "It was broken, and I was beginning not to like her. Advertisement "I could see things in her I didn't like. I didn't trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive. "I had found out from other girls what she was accused of, and they told me the same thing that I had heard before, like sewing suicide vests "Things were ringing in my head like she said early on that the Manchester bombing was legitimate because of what happened in Iraq and Syria. "So I didn't trust her." Andrew's last contact with Begum was around two years ago in a fiery text exchange. Advertisement She accused Andrew of "selling her out", to which he shot back: "You've sold your country out." Begum last year lost her final appeal challenging the removal of her British citizenship. She can now no longer fight to overturn the revocation of her citizenship within the UK legal system. Andrew said: "I think she's a danger for what she stood for, and I don't think she could ever come back. "I think she needs to go on trial in Syria for the crimes she committed against the Syrian people."
The Sun
08-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
I met ISIS bride Shamima Begum in prison camp – I felt sorry for her but saw true colours when I gave her wrong ‘gift'
AS Andrew Drury made his way through a Syrian camp looking for notorious ISIS bride Shamima Begum, his mind began to race. Although the intrepid filmmaker had been in far more perilous situations - his nerves started to get the better of him. 7 7 7 But when he was introduced to Begum - who left the UK aged 15 to join ISIS a decade ago in 2015 - he was taken aback. "She was very shaky, very nervous, very shut, emotional, tearful," Andrew told The Sun. Father-of-four Andrew met Begum, who grew up in East London, for the first of six times at the Al-Roj camp in Syria in June 2021 while filming for a documentary, Danger Zone. He initially felt sorry for Begum, then 21, and became a close confidant of the Jihadi bride - even securing a Bafta-nominated live interview with her for Good Morning Britain. In less than two years his view of Begum - accused of serving in the feared IS "morality police" and helping make suicide vests - completely changed, however. He saw a colder side when she talked about how the death of her three children no longer upset her and even expressed support of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi. Extreme adventurer Andrew, who has made treacherous journeys to North Korea and Iraq, said at first Begum was a "thin, ill-looking, sad character" who was "very apologetic". "We took a long walk around the camp, She started to relax, and she said she used to take this regular walk right around the perimeter of the camp to clear her head," he said. "After the interview finished, we walked back to the room. Normally she'd go off to a tent, but she wanted to come back to the room to get a cold drink. "Then I didn't want to insult her at that point, I wanted to say goodbye - I thought I'd never see her again. How Shamima Begum camps are fermenting twisted next generation of ISIS as kids make 'cutthroat' gesture & hurl firebombs "I said, 'Can I shake your hand?' and she asked for a hug. "So she gave me a hug and started to cry." Andrew, from Surrey, said he felt they had formed a connection and believed she regretted turning her back on Western society to join the murderous death cult. "At that point I kind of believed that she was sincere," he said. "I kind of felt sorry for her. I thought at that point she'd been radicalised online, sent out as a prescribed bridge to somebody. "She said she'd made a real bad mistake and really regretted what she'd done. "She owned up to being this person that everybody hates in the UK. "And I felt sorry for her, I've got young daughters, not a lot of difference in age, so I thought people do make mistakes, and I should give her a chance." Andrew - whose book Trip Hazard details his experience in dangerous areas - returned to the camp months later after GMB asked for his help to get an interview with Begum. The author, who has exchanged hundreds of messages with Begum, said he noticed a "subtle change" in the former Brit. Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019, appeared to have undergone a more "Western" makeover - ditching her hijab and abaya. 7 7 "She had changed as a character," Andrew said. "She was more short. She wasn't this nervous-cry sort of character. "She looked assured, and she didn't seem such a waif character, and she seemed to be in control of herself and her emotions." Andrew told how Begum spent the night before the live interview "rehearsing" with three of her friends In the camp, which is controlled by armed guards. He added: "Her friends said they'd had their music playing and they were tutoring Shamima what to say. "They seemed pretty together about what she should say, and they were schooling her." Begum married an IS fighter soon after arriving in Syria and went on to have three children, none of whom survived. Andrew - who said he had formed a "bond" with Begum - told how after the interview, Shamima opened her purse and showed him photos of her children. The tragic loss of his own brother Robert as a child made him sympathise with Shamima's plight. "One of them was a scene where the child must have been eight, nine months old, had chocolate around his face," he recalled. "I said, 'What's that?' and she said, 'Oh we used to like baking cakes'. "And it actually makes me quite sad. It was really quite sad knowing the child had died. "She made it sound like an honour that she had shared these pictures with me, which I guess it probably was, because she hadn't shared them before she said." 7 But it was Begum's attitude after Andrew returned to the UK that shocked him - and began to shatter their relationship. "I said to her, 'Those pictures you showed me really upset me, I hope you're okay'," he said. "She messaged back and said, 'Oh, they don't bother me anymore. That doesn't make me sad'. "I thought, was that because she's been traumatised so badly? "But I think she is that hard. I think she's calculated. "I actually don't think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it." After meeting Andrew a couple of times, Begum started asking him to bring stuff into the camp for her - including clothes. The dad said he felt "at a crossroads" about whether to take what she wanted. "I felt bad and guilty that I'd be taking somebody that carried out what could have been some atrocities, clothes," he said. "But then, probably on the soft side of me, and the fact is, she was a young girl, so I was playing with these emotions, but I took her the clothes from Primark. "We had a bundle of stuff, we took some toys for the children because it's not their fault." But then Begum's requests started turning into demands, Andrew said. "The messages continued," he added. Camps breeding next ISIS generation Exclusive by Henry Holloway, Deputy Foreign Editor and Alan Duncan A CHILD no older than eight draws his hand across his neck in a chilling throat-slitting gesture - the message is clear, "You are not welcome here". Other kids hurl stones, shout and scream - while one exasperated camp official shows us CCTV of two youngsters hurling a firebomb. Welcome to camps al-Hol and al-Roj in northern Syria - the fates of which remain uncertain after the fall of tyrant Bashar al-Assad. It is warned these stark detention centres are now the breeding ground for the next generation of the bloodthirsty cult. And much of this new wave of radicalisation is feared to be coming from the mothers inside the camps. Senior camp official Rashid Omer said: "The reality is - they are not changing. This is not a normal camp - this a bomb." He went on: "They are saying it was ISIS who 'liberated' Damascus - and soon they will be coming here." "And then they want to spread to Europe, to Africa, and then to everywhere." The two sprawling sites hold a total of nearly 60,000 including ISIS fighters, families and children. At least 6,000 Westerners are still held among them - including infamous jihadi bride Shamima Begum, the 25-year-old from London. "This time they became slightly more angry, slightly more direct." Before he planned to return to Syria again, Begum told him she wanted two books - Guantanamo Bay Diaries and Sea Prayer - which is inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis. Andrew said she was also being schooled by her lawyer about her media presence. He added: "What she declared by then is that she was hostage in a prison camp - where they were legally held. "That's how she started to see herself. All apologies had gone. "She'd done a documentary with the BBC and was on the front of The Times magazine. "She'd become a celebrity and was loving all the attention. She'd read all the newspaper articles." Andrew - who returned to the camp with a friend and no crew - took some clothes for Begum with him. But it was his decision not to take the books she had demanded that revealed her true colours. "I did go back again, but my feelings were already changing towards her," Andrew said. "It was a little boy's birthday, and I felt so sorry for him. "He wanted a Superman outfit, so I would have gone just for that, because I spend a lot of time in refugee camps. It's not fair for these kids. "I didn't take the books Shamima wanted because I didn't want to. I didn't want her to have that opportunity to what I saw as studying how to be a victim. "She opened the clothes, said she didn't like them. I mean, this is a girl in a prison camp. "She said, 'I didn't really care about the clothes, it was the books I wanted'. So she became quite aggressive in her nature." Who is Shamima Begum? ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who was born in Britain, was stripped of her British citizenship on February 20, 2019. Begum had fled the UK in February 2015 with two other Bethnal Green schoolgirls to join the fledgling caliphate in Iraq and Syria which had emerged out of the chaos of war in those two countries. In February 2019, after the ISIS empire fell, she declared that she wanted to come home with her son. But she appeared to show no remorse and called the 2017 Manchester Arena massacre of 22 people attending a concert 'justified". Her principled position has sparked intense debate about the UK's responsibilities to jihadis who despise the country and everything it stands for, but want to return from Syria. The case took a dramatic turn on February 20 2019 when it emerged the Home Office had opted to strip Ms Begum of her British citizenship. Begum claims she is " willing to change" her ways while pleading for "mercy" from Britain. Her appeals against the decision have all been denied. Begum's attitude then worsened when Andrew became interested in another girl's story. It was one of the final nails in the coffin in the bond Andrew believed they had initially formed. "Shamima had a tantrum that the attention had been taken away from her," he said. "She was like a child that was pretending they were ill. "So during this period of time I was beginning to feel like the connection was gone. "It was broken, and I was beginning not to like her. "I could see things in her I didn't like. I didn't trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive. "I had found out from other girls what she was accused of, and they told me the same thing that I had heard before, like sewing suicide vests "Things were ringing in my head like she said early on that the Manchester bombing was legitimate because of what happened in Iraq and Syria. "So I didn't trust her." Andrew's last contact with Begum was around two years ago in a fiery text exchange. She accused Andrew of "selling her out", to which he shot back: "You've sold your country out." Begum last year lost her final appeal challenging the removal of her British citizenship. She can now no longer fight to overturn the revocation of her citizenship within the UK legal system. Andrew said: "I think she's a danger for what she stood for, and I don't think she could ever come back. "I think she needs to go on trial in Syria for the crimes she committed against the Syrian people."
The Sun
03-06-2025
- General
- The Sun
Robert Jenrick joins calls for Sir Keir Starmer to sack lefty lawyer Attorney General who represented Shamima Begum
ROBERT Jenrick joined calls for the PM to sack his lefty lawyer Attorney General who represented IS bride Shamima Begum. Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick yesterday blasted the PM for continuing to support Cabinet Minister Lord Richard Hermer, whose former client list also includes Gerry Adams and a right-hand man to Osama Bin Laden. 3 3 In a viral video on social media, Mr Jenrick accused the Attorney General of having 'spent much of his life defending those who hate Britain'. He claimed Lord Hermer actively chose to take on the cases of terrorists and illegal migrants, even where legal ethics dictated he did not have to. The Shadow Justice Secretary said: 'Lord Hermer was a top human rights lawyer. 'He would have been inundated with cases, able to choose the pick of the bunch. 'And what's more, he often worked on a pro-bono or no-win no-fee basis.' Mr Jenrick accused the Attorney General, who is personally close to the PM, of being 'riddled with potential conflicts of interest' because he so often tried to sue the government. It came as last week Lord Hermer, one of Labour's biggest advocates of the ECHR, sparked outrage for comparing opponents of the foreign court to nazis. Mr Jenrick added: 'Starmer should never have appointed him in the first place. 'Why did he? Because they share exactly the same views. 'Britain deserves better than the pair of them.' Unveiling Lord Hermer's Legal Fee Scandal A spokesperson for the Attorney General's Office said: 'Law Officers such as the Attorney General will naturally have an extensive legal background and may have previously been involved in a wide number of past cases. 'Barristers do not associate themselves with their clients' opinions.' 3
Daily Mail
03-06-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
Robert Jenrick attacks Attorney General Lord Hermer by parading in front of ten easels showing controversial clients in latest stunt video
Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has attacked the Attorney General by parading in front of easels depicting Lord Hermer's previous clients in his latest stunt video. The former Conservative leadership candidate accused Lord Hermer of choosing to 'defend Britain's enemies', adding: 'Starmer should never have appointed him in the first place'. The video saw Jenrick list a range of controversial figures including Gerry Adams and Shamima Begum, as he hit out at the peer following comments he made in a speech comparing calls to leave the ECHR to Nazi policies. Also mentioned were several Islamist terrorists including a man involved in the 7/7 attacks on London transport who was previously known to be Osama Bin Laden's 'right-hand man'. Lord Hermer has faced calls to resign from his role since making the comments, with Jenrick - who wants the UK to leave the ECHR - the latest to add fuel to the fire. Now Jenrick has accused the Prime Minister of 'sharing [Lord Hermer's] views' as he claimed: 'Britain deserves better than the pair of them.' Posting the clip online, Jenrick wrote: 'Gerry Adams. Shamima Begum. Osama bin Laden's right-hand man. Lord Hermer has spent much of his life defending those who hate Britain. Why on earth did Starmer hand-pick him to be Attorney General?' It comes just days after a video showing Jenrick challenging fare evaders on London transport last week went viral after he attempted to make several people go back and pay their fare. Among the former clients of Lord Hermer listed by Jenrick was former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, who he represented in a damages claim brought by victims of IRA bombings. After Adams won a defamation case against the BBC last week, Lord Hermer was asked about his previous work with the politician but declined to give any details. He also intervened in the case of child ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who was groomed by the terror group along with two schoolfriends before all three travelled from the UK to Syria. A complex legal battle ended with Begum being stripped of her British citizenship after she turned up in a refugee camp appealing to be allowed back to her native UK. Lord Hermer argued she should have been allowed to return to the UK in order to participate in her appeal over the issue. Other cases mentioned by Jenrick included representing asylum seekers, advocating for slavery reparations and his support for giving up the Chagos Islands. This included the case of an Eritrean man who came to Britain claiming to be 16, but who was in fact 26. But the most contentious cases highlighted by Jenrick involved clients linked to Islamist terror groups such as Al-Qaeda. Among these is his work for former Guantanamo Bay detainee Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, who last year pleaded guilty to the murder of 2,900 people in the 9/11 terror attacks. Al-Hawsawi launched a claim against the MoD, MI5 and MI6 which was taken on by Lord Hermer in 2023 over allegations that British spies were complicit in 'torture' and 'degrading' treatment by the CIA. He was involved in a preliminary hearing for the case in May 2023, but stopped working on it when he became Attorney General. Lord Hermer also sought compensation from the British government for an Al-Qaeda chief linked to the 7/7 bombings in London in 2005 over alleged torture he suffered in Pakistan. Rangzieb Ahmed, once known as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man, made the claim on the basis that UK police and security services should have a 'joint liability' over actions taken by Allies in the war on terror. The case was dismissed. Lord Hermer represented the ringleader of another al-Qaeda plot, Abid Naseer, who headed up a terror cell in the northeast. The Attorney General described MI5's case against Naseer as 'pitiful' after it emerged he was involved in plotting to detonate a bomb at a Manchester shopping centre, and charges were not pressed in the UK. Naseer was later found guilty in a US court of plotting to detonate a car bomb outside the shopping centre and then kill hundreds of Easter shoppers by placing suicide bombers at the exits. And Jenrick drew attention to how Lord Hermer intervened and helped unfreeze assets belonging to Al-Qaeda terror suspect Mohammed al-Ghabra, after he was sanctioned by countries including the UK and USA. Jenrick drew attention to how Lord Hermer intervened and helped unfreeze assets belonging to Al-Qaeda terror suspect Mohammed al-Ghabra - he denies all wrongdoing Al-Ghabra has not been convicted of any offence and has always denied any wrongdoing. The stunt video also saw Jenrick speak to a cabbie, who explained the black cab rule that any customer is always taken by the first taxi in any rank. He argued that as one of the country's most eminent human rights' lawyers, Lord Hermer would have the choice to pick any of his cases, unlike many criminal lawyers, who must take whatever case is first in line. Lord Hermer has faced backlash over his series of controversial clients in recent months, which only increased after his comments on those who wish for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In a lecture at the Royal United Services Institute, a defence and security think-tank, he said the Labour Government had a 'policy of progressive realism' that means it will never leave international conventions such as the ECHR. Numerous senior politicians on the Right have called for Britain to leave the convention after it stopped Rwanda deportation flights. Lord Hermer said such 'songs' had been heard before, citing Nazi ideologist Carl Schmitt, who supported Hitler's policies such as the Night of the Long Knives assassinations. The Attorney General said: 'Our approach is a rejection of the siren song that can sadly now be heard in the Palace of Westminster and in some spectrums of the media, that Britain abandons the constraints of international law in favour of raw power. 'This is not a new song. The claim that international law is fine as far as it goes, but can be put aside when conditions change, is a claim that was made in the early 1930s by "realist" jurists in Germany, most notably Carl Schmitt, whose central thesis was in essence the claim that state power is all that counts, not law. 'Because of the experience of what followed in 1933, far-sighted individuals rebuilt and transformed the institutions of international law, as well as internal constitutional law.' Jenrick has quite the opposite view and responded angrily to Lord Hermen's comments. He said: 'The idea you can reform the ECHR is fanciful as it requires unanimity from all 46 signatories. 'It is appalling Hermer would insinuate those who think we should leave the ECHR are like the Nazis. '[Foreign Secretary] David Lammy tried that disgusting smeer with Brexiteers and it didn't work for him. It won't work for Hermer either.'
