A convicted Islamic terrorist linked to an Isis cell responsible for brutal public executions was allowed to live near Windsor Castle after being granted permission to remain in Britain on human rights grounds, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Iraqi national Mohammed Yaseen became involved in terrorism at 16. He was first associated with the Al Qaeda network that murdered British hostage Ken Bigley before joining Isis, where he was linked to stonings, beheadings and mass killings.
A British court heard that Yaseen ‘posed a danger to the whole of the UK’. Yet he was released last week after serving only six months of a two-year sentence for entering Britain illegally in a small boat across the Channel.
He was placed in a bail hostel in Windsor. Last week, the MoS saw him shopping at a Co-op store near Windsor Castle.
Yaseen had reached Britain after completing almost five years in a German prison for belonging to Isis.
In a further setback for the UK’s asylum system, he has submitted a fresh application to remain in the country, suspending Home Office efforts to remove him.
The MoS understands that the Foreign Office has warned Yaseen could face ‘mistreatment’ in Iraq because of his terrorist history if he is sent back.
Politicians reacted with outrage last night, highlighting the security implications of housing Yaseen near the royal residence. King Charles is due to host the Sultan of Oman at a state banquet there on Thursday.
Iraqi Mohammed Yaseen, who became involved in terrorism at 16, was allowed to live near Windsor Castle after being permitted to remain in Britain on human rights grounds
British hostage Kenneth Bigley appeared in a video broadcast by Al-Jazeera on September 29, 2004, making a renewed appeal to Prime Minister Tony Blair to help secure his release
The Prince and Princess of Wales and their children—George, 13, Charlotte, 11, and eight-year-old Louis—live nearby at Forest Lodge in Windsor Great Park. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh also reside in the area, at Bagshot Park.
MPs have condemned the fact that taxpayers are funding the convicted terrorist’s legal challenge to remain in Britain.
Legal specialists say Yaseen is likely to qualify for legal aid. If he pursued the case to the European Court of Human Rights, the eventual cost to the taxpayer could reach £500,000.
Other experts told the MoS that the cost of keeping Yaseen in Britain could total as much as £85,000 a year. That figure includes taxpayer-funded accommodation, food support and monitoring.
Chris Philp MP, the Shadow Home Secretary, told the MoS: ‘We are paying through the nose to feed, clothe and house individuals who pose a clear threat. If Andy Burnham took this seriously, he would deport this man at once.’
A German court heard in 2020 that Yaseen had taken part in bomb attacks that killed American troops.
The Dusseldorf court was also told that he served as an Isis guard during stonings, beheadings and at least two mass executions. Children were among those killed in the executions.
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Yaseen was among 80 people intercepted by Border Force while crossing the Channel last December. He initially gave officials a false identity and was placed in a taxpayer-funded migrant hotel in Basingstoke. Routine biometric checks later uncovered his true identity.
Convicted Isis terrorist Mohammed Yaseen, pictured, was linked to beheadings and public floggings in Iraq before travelling to Britain by small boat after reportedly hearing that the UK ‘accepts everyone’
Iraqi Mohammed Yaseen was housed in a bail hostel in Windsor, where the MoS saw him shopping at a Co-op near Windsor Castle last week (pictured)
At his trial at Winchester Crown Court for illegally entering Britain, prosecutor Steven Molloy said Yaseen had a ‘deeper and lengthy involvement in terrorism and Islamic extremist ideology’.
The MoS understands Yaseen was last week free to walk around the town if he wore his ankle tag and observed a 6pm-6am curfew.
But there appeared to be no restrictions on him going to Windsor Great Park, or to the castle.
Yaseen arrived in Germany in 2015, and claimed asylum. German authorities were unaware of his past and he lived in Bottrup, in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he worked as a hairdresser. He and three Iraqi associates were arrested in 2018 after a tip-off.
Yaseen grew up in Ar-Rutbah in western Iraq, an Al Qaeda stronghold in the aftermath of the US-led invasion of the country in 2003.
In 2006, aged 16, he became a member of Islamic State of Iraq, a franchise of Al Qaeda that killed American troops across the country. Its leader, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, beheaded Western hostages – including Liverpool engineer Ken Bigley, 62, executed in 2004 – in front of cameras. The Dusseldorf court heard that, despite being a teenager, Yaseen planted at least 13 bombs on the roads around Ar-Rutbah.
Documents from the trial claimed that he became a leading member of Isis in Ar-Rutbah, and acted as a security guard during open-air executions, armed with a ‘Kalashnikov assault rifle’.
A couple accused of being ‘adulterers’ were stoned to death, with Yaseen controlling the crowds who came to witness the killings, the documents claim. German prosecutors also said Yaseen guarded two ‘mass executions’ held by Isis. He was found guilty of being a member of Isis, and jailed for four years and nine months.
When his prison term expired last year, the German government attempted to deport him back to Iraq, but a judge ruled there was a real risk that he could be mistreated or even executed.
Last night government sources said Yaseen was recalled to prison hours after the MoS contacted the Home Office about the case.
A source at the Ministry of Justice said he was taken back to prison as he had apparently breached his ‘good behaviour’ requirement at the bail hostel.
The source said: ‘He is no longer in Windsor.’
Additional reporting: Robert Hyde in Bremen