Highlights
- Terrorist jailed in 2012 for LSE bomb plot remains in UK.
- Cannot be deported due to Article 3 protections.
- Wife excluded after ISIS material found on phone.
Shah Rahman was one of four al-Qaeda-inspired extremists jailed in 2012 for plotting to attack central London.
The Bangladesh national asked for asylum in 2017, the same year he got out of prison on licence.
Officials said no to his claim under the Refugee Convention. This law lets authorities refuse asylum to people guilty of terrorist acts or serious crimes. But Rahman was still given restricted permission to stay in the UK.
Why he cannot leave
A court judgment showed that Rahman cannot be sent back to Bangladesh. Removing him would break his rights under Article 3 of the Human Rights Convention. This rule gives complete protection from torture or harsh treatment.
The case became public during a legal fight involving Rahman's wife, Parveen Purbhoo. She can be named now after reporting restrictions ended.
Purbhoo is a citizen of Mauritius. She married Rahman in an Islamic ceremony in London in June 2019. She first asked to enter the UK and was told no. But her second application was approved.
She has now been permanently banned from Britain. This happened after immigration officers found ISIS-related material on her mobile phone at Heathrow Airport.
Officers stopped Purbhoo in August 2021. Her phone had jihadist propaganda and videos of soldiers. Even after finding this, she was let into the UK. She lived with Rahman until police arrested him again in 2022.
A police report given to the court said she did not seem worried about having the material on her phone.
She said she could not remember how it got there. But she admitted she wanted to learn more about it.
Rahman went back to prison in February 2022. He was convicted of not telling probation services about a mobile phone, email address and bank account.
He said he used the secret phone to make private video calls with Purbhoo.
A psychology report by the parole board found that Purbhoo helped Rahman break the rules that got him convicted.
In 2023, Home secretary Suella Braverman permanently banned Purbhoo from the UK. On Monday, she was told she could not appeal against the ban.
The Special Immigration Appeals Commission said Purbhoo was "reasonably assessed as a national security risk".
The ban was the right decision. The judgment said her willingness to put her own interests above legal rules was "troubling and risky".
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