Islamist double assassin who held jail officer hostage is awarded £240k taxpayer-funded payout after struggling ‘extreme melancholy’ in solitary confinement
A double murderer who took a prison officer hostage and demanded the release of hate preacher Abu Qatada has been awarded a £240k taxpayer-funded payout.
Fuad Awale was transferred to a special separation unit for dangerous convicts after he and another convict ambushed a jail worker and threatened to kill him.
Awale 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 life.
David Lammy, the Justice Secretary, has now agreed to pay £7,500 compensation and £234,000 legal costs after the convicted killer stated he had suffered ‘severe depression‘.
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 High Court has ruled in favour of Awale’s appeal to the ECHR, with a judge saying there had been a ‘significant degree of interference with the claimant’s private life’, The Telegraph reports.
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.’
Fuad Awale was transferred to a special separation unit for dangerous convicts after he and another convict ambushed a jail worker and threatened to kill him
Mohammed Abdi Farah and Amin Ahmed Ismail (pictured) were shot and killed by Fuad Awale in 2011
The double murderer, who took a prison officer hostage and demanded the release of hate preacher Abu Qatada (pictured), has been awarded a £240k taxpayer-funded payout
Robert Jenrick, Conservative shadow justice secretary, has 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.’
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 17, 2023, spending as little as one hour a day outside his cell.
Should convicted extremists be allowed to use human rights laws to claim payouts from the taxpayer?
The court heard Awale previously asked to associate with one of the Islamic extremist killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby (pictured) – but was denied the request due to ‘counter-terrorism concerns’
Lee Rigby’s killers Michael Adebolajo (left) and Michael Adebowale are pictured
His lawyers have now successfully argued the decisions to deny access were ‘opaque’, adding Awale had been denied the chance to argue his case as prison managers were failing to regularly review his segregated conditions, as required by law.
Awale also argued the Ministry of Justice had failed to consider the high number of ‘racist’ and ‘Islamophobic’ prisoners in the supervision centre – further limiting the number of people he could associate with.
The claim was allowed by the High Court on all grounds.
Revealing the payout, Mr Lammy had noted to Mr Jenrick that the £7,500 compensation sum was a ‘modest proportion’ of the overall settlement – after it was contested by the Ministry of Justice, as is standard practice for ‘all litigation by prisoners convicted of terrorist offences’.
He pointed to improvements in the decision-making process to address the findings of similar judgements.
Mr Lammy is currently considering a review by terror watchdog Jonathan Hall on how prison security can be improved following an alleged knife attack against three officers by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.
It is believed the review has recommended the Government appeals the Awale ruling and consider changing the law to stop extremist prisoners from exploiting the ECHR.
Mr Lammy told Mr Jenrick: ‘I can assure you that significant policy and operational changes are under active consideration to ensure that the legal framework regarding the placement in separation remains robust, relevant and trusted.’
