Convicted terrorist who plotted to bomb British consulate and was linked to hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza stands in Birmingham council elections to ‘unify the folks’
A convicted terrorist who was jailed for plotting to blow up the British embassy and had links to hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza intends to stand as a candidate in Birmingham‘s local elections.
Shahid Butt, 60, said he wants to ‘unify the people’ and push back against the far right when he stands for election in Sparkhill, in the upcoming Birmingham City Council elections, which will be held in May.
However his candidacy is marred by controversy.
Butt was convicted by a court in Yemen in 1999 after prosecutors said he was part of a militant group planning attacks on Western targets, including the British consulate in Aden, an Anglican church, and a Swiss-owned hotel.
The then 33-year-old – who was born in Pakistan before moving to Birmingham at an early age with his parents – was sentenced to five years in prison for associating with armed groups, ‘plotting murder and destruction’, and possessing weapons.
The case involved eight Britons and two Algerians and was linked to Islamist militants operating in the Middle Eastern country.
During proceedings, it was heard that Butt and the group had been sent to Yemen by Abu Hamza, the hook-handed and one-eyed British hate preacher who is now serving a life sentence in the USA after being extradited in 2012 on terrorism charges.
The defendants were said to have trained at a militant camp run by national Zein al-Abidine al-Mihdar, who was later sentenced to death for his role in the 1998 kidnapping of 16 Western tourists.
Shahid Butt, who intends to stand as a candidate in Birmingham, said in his campaign video: ‘I’m someone who has always been on the frontlines. For those who know me, quite literally on the front lines’
Butt, 60, was jailed for plotting to blow up the British embassy in Yemen in 1999
During his 1999 trial, it was heard that Butt had been sent to Yemen by Abu Hamza, the hook-handed and one-eyed British hate preacher who is now serving a life sentence in the USA after being extradited in 2012 on terrorism charges
Four hostages – three Britons and one Australian – were killed during a rescue attempt by Yemeni security forces.
During Butt’s trial, the defendants claimed they had been tortured into confessing.
But the court rejected the claims, ruling there was no link between the torture allegations and the evidence relied upon by the prosecution.
The would-be councillor served his sentence in full and was released aged 38 in December 2003, returning to the UK under escort from a British consular official.
There is no public record that his conviction was ever quashed.
Prior to his conviction for terrorism, Butt was one of the founding members of the Lynx gang, which participated in violent street fights with Far Right racists, resulting in him being sent to prison.
In the early 1990s he travelled to Bosnia as an aid worker, before joining the foreign fighter ranks of the Bosnian army. He also travelled to Afghanistan and Kashmir during this time, before being sent to Yemen.
Since returning to Britain, Butt has given talks in schools and at public meetings about radicalisation and his past experiences, which he said serves as a warning to others.
Controversial TikTok lawyer Yakoob, who is known for his love of fast cars and snazzy jewellery, is backing Butt on standing for the local elections in Birmingham
Yakoob is staunchly pro-Palestinian and regularly refers to the conflict in his TikTok videos. Pictured: The lawyer arriving ahead of the West Midlands mayoral count in 2024
The solicitor is due to stand trial in 2027 on charges of money laundering. Pictured: Yakoob outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court last June
Despite his criminal past, Butt, a father-of-five and grandfather-of-two, is seeking election in the forthcoming Birmingham City Council elections.
He will stand under the Independent Candidate Alliance (ICA), backed by Akhmed Yakoob, a Birmingham solicitor and former parliamentary candidate in Ladywood, and Birmingham activist Shakeel Afsar.
The ICA was formed in early 2025 to back independent local candidates, with a focus on inner-city issues.
Lawyer Yakoob, known as the ‘TikTok lawyer’ with a love of fast cars and snazzy jewellery, is currently charged with money laundering and related offences and is due to stand trial next year.
He has previously harboured political ambitions. In 2024 he entered the political arena twice – first as a candidate in the West Midlands mayoral race, where he finished third against Conservative incumbent Andy Street.
He then stood again in the General Election as an independent candidate in Shabana Mahmood’s constituency of Birmingham Ladywood. He finished in second place against the Home Secretary with 12,137 votes compared to her 15,558.
Yakoob was also at the centre of a controversy in July 2024, when he represented two brothers involved in a brawl with police officers at Manchester Airport.
He later stepped aside from the pair claiming the media had ‘made the situation about me rather than police brutality and police misconduct’.
Yakoob and Birmingham activist Shakeel Afsar, pictured right, who are both backing Butt, said it was ‘good news’ Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were banned from the Aston Villa match
In his latest videos, Yakoob has been an open supporter of disgraced West Midlands Police chief constable Craig Guildford, who retired earlier this month over the Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban scandal, describing him as ‘an honest individual’.
Yakoob of Perry Barr, Birmingham, is due to stand trial in 2027 on charges of money laundering; encouraging money laundering; and contravening a requirement to apply customer due diligence measures when establishing a business relationship.
Afsar meanwhile stood as an independent candidate in Hall Green and Moseley at the last general election and previously led protests against LGBT-inclusive teaching at the city’s Anderton Park Primary School.
All three are vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause and publicly supported the ban on Maccabi Tel Aviv fans ahead of the Israeli side’s game against Aston Villa in November.
Butt had actively called on Muslims from around the country to stop Maccabi fans ‘desecrating’ and ‘dirtying’ the city, while describing them as ‘IDF babykillers’.
He also posted a video from a protest on the night of the match, which has been seen by Daily Mail, saying: ‘Muslims are not pacifists…if somebody comes into your face, you knock his teeth out, that’s my message to the youth.’
In a TikTok video featuring all three, Yakoob introduced Butt and said: ‘Now is the time to get rid of the Labour councillors here in Sparkhill and Birmingham.’
He said: ‘I’m someone who has always been on the frontlines. For those who know me, quite literally on the front lines.
‘Whether it’s the 1970s, 1980s, when I was fighting against skinheads on the streets of Sparkhill and against the Far Right to the battlefields of Bosnia in the Nineties, fighting and helping the weak and oppressed is something that I’ve always been very passionate about.’
Butt was described as well-respected in the Sparkhill community in the video.
He said towards the end of the video: ‘With the help of Allah, with your support, and with these guys behind me, I know we are going to take this, Inshallah.’
Speaking to the Birmingham Mail about his intention to stand as a candidate, Butt said: ‘Sometimes in the heat of the moment I say something that I may later regret…but I’m not an AI robot, I’m a real person, I have had a very colourful life and had my ups and downs but that’s what gives me credibility in my community.
‘People see me as a real person, with all my faults and shortcomings.
‘I genuinely believe I can unify and bring people together.’
When asked if he held antisemitic views, he disclosed that he had ‘no love’ for Zionism, but denied he was racist.
According to local council election rules, a person can be disqualified from standing if they have been sentenced to prison for three months – but this only applies to the previous five years before polling day.
Daily Mail has contacted Birmingham City Council for comment.
