The Labour government is facing fury after a convicted Islamist double-killer used European human rights laws to claim £240,000 of taxpayers’ money.
Fuad Awale was given the cash in compensation and costs by the High Court after he complained that a decision to place him in solitary confinement as punishment for taking a prison guard hostage left him “severely depressed”.
Awale is serving a life sentence for the ‘execution’ style killing of two men in 2011. He was transferred to a special separation unit for dangerous convicts two years later after he and another convict ambushed a jail worker and threatened to kill him.
He later used Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) to claim his segregation – designed to prevent him harming officers and radicalising inmates – had breached his right to [private] life.
David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, has now agreed to pay £7,500 compensation and £234,000 legal costs after a High Court judge said there had been a “significant degree of interference with the claimant’s private life”.
“Labour are cowing to terrorists”
Robert Jenrick, the Conservative Shadow Justice Secretary, who obtained details of the payout in a letter from Mr Lammy, branded the decision a “sick joke”.
He said: “Labour are cowing to terrorists and the human rights brigade. They must introduce emergency legislation to carve these monsters out of the ECHR immediately. If they don’t, we will as soon as Parliament returns.”
The court heard Awale previously asked to associate with one of the Islamic extremist killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby – but was denied the request due to “counter-terrorism concerns”.
He and an accomplice also demanded the release of Qatada, a hate preacher who had been facing deportation to Jordan to face terror charges, as well as Roshonara Choudhry, who stabbed Labour MP Stephen Timms in 2010.
The judge added: “The degree of interference with the claimant’s private life which has resulted from his removal from association has been of some significance and duration.”
Mr Lammy, who revealed the payout to Awale in a letter today, suggested Ministers were considering changes in the law to prevent extremist criminals from using the ECHR as a “barrier to us protecting national security”.
Awale was sentenced to a minimum of 38 years in prison in January 2013 aged 25 after shooting Mohammed Abdi Farah, 19, and Amin Ahmed Ismail, 18, in the head in a Milton Keynes alleyway over a drugs dispute.
He was handed a further six-year jail sentence after taking a prison officer hostage in 2013 and making threats to kill him.
The extremist had pointed a sharp implement at the throat of the officer, pinning him to a chair, and said: “Stop struggling, I’ve killed two people – I’ll kill you.”
Awale was subsequently assessed as having ‘extremist beliefs’ and held in ‘close supervision centres’ – where up to four officers with body-worn cameras ‘unlock’ inmates each time they leave their cells.
Awale was kept in HMP Woodhill, Milton Keynes, from 2021 onwards and did not associate with any other inmates since March 17th 2023, spending as little as one hour a day outside his cell.
A familiar pattern in modern Britain
This case follows a growing pattern in which violent or extremist offenders use human rights law to challenge the consequences of their own actions.
Similar claims have been brought by dangerous prisoners seeking association with known terrorists, privileges denied on security grounds, or damages for conditions imposed to keep others safe.
Another case saw far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson) who sought legal permission to challenge his segregation at HMP Woodhill on the basis of harm to his mental health, though the High Court refused permission, ruling the regime did not constitute a human-rights breach because it was imposed for his protection and prison safety.
A further example involves a convicted murderer at HMP Full Sutton who received thousands in taxpayer-funded legal aid to argue that restrictions on his access to facilities such as the gym and library violated his ECHR rights, prompting criticism from political figures that human-rights challenges can constrain prison governors’ ability to isolate radicalising inmates
Additionally, in Sahayb Abu v Secretary of State for Justice, a High Court judge found that extended segregation without adequate assessment of mental health needs breached protections against inhuman or degrading treatment, illustrating the judiciary’s willingness to apply human-rights protections even in terrorism-related confinement contexts.
Leave a Reply