Isis-supporting illegal immigrant avoided detention over mental health
The Iranian man, named only as 'D8' in court documents, entered Britain illegally on a small boat in March 2021 and claimed asylum.
A 32-year-old Sunni Muslim, he had previously been granted five years' leave to remain as a refugee in March 2017 after crossing the English Channel in the back of a lorry.
This was revoked by the Home Office in April 2020 after he visited Iraq, prompting concerns he was a danger to national security.
After entering Britain for a second time, D8 was detained in an immigration jail in 2021.
However, he was released on bail in June 2022 after a judge found detention had 'caused or aggravated' his depression.
In July 2022, the Home Office rejected his asylum application on national security grounds, after asserting he had an 'Islamist mindset' and maintained 'support for Islamic state'.
He was allowed to avoid detention on condition that he stayed at one address, did not work and was monitored by an electronic tag.
In January this year, the Court of Appeal backed the Government in the battle over his asylum claim, ruling that he supported the Islamic State and was a threat to national security.
It revoked his refugee status but concluded he could not be deported to Iran, his home country, as he might face torture.
It is the latest case uncovered by The Telegraph of migrants avoiding deportation on human rights grounds.
Others include the case of an Albanian criminal allowed to remain after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be 'unduly harsh' on his children.
The record number of immigration appeals, which often cite the right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), threatens to hamper the Government's attempts to remove illegal migrants.
It has prompted Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to consider restricting migrants from citing their right to a family life to avoid deportation.
In the Court of Appeal hearing in January, Justice Males, Justice Phillips and Justice Laing noted that the secretary of state had concluded D8 was a danger to the British public.
But they said that he was likely to be interrogated by the Iranian authorities if he were sent back, and criticised the Foreign Office's reasoning – laid out in a report – as 'somewhat blithe' and 'jejune'.
They ruled: 'Drawing the threads together, the secretary of state has concluded that D8 is a danger to the national security of the United Kingdom.
'It is inherent in that conclusion, which the secretary of state was entitled to reach, that he represents a real and serious danger.'
The judges found, however, that if D8 were returned to Iran 'his life would be put at risk' and he would be exposed to 'a real risk of torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment'.
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The regime's aim, he said, was twofold: to keep people off the streets and erode the surprising bond that had formed between Iranians and Israelis. 'At the start of the war, many Iranians welcomed the strikes,' Aarabi noted. 3 In North Korea, citizens can vanish without explanation. KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Images 'They knew Israel was targeting the IRGC — the very forces responsible for suppressing and killing their own people. But once the internet was cut and fear set in, some began to question what was happening.' Dr. Afshon Ostovar, a leading Iran scholar and author of 'Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards,' said domestic repression remains the regime's most reliable strategy for survival. 'Repressing the people at home is easy. That's something they can do. So it's not unlikely that Iran could become more insular, more autocratic, more repressive — and more similar to, let's say, a North Korea — than what it is today. 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Keep up with today's most important news Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Aarabi said that these newer factions have begun turning on senior commanders, accusing them of being too soft on Israel or even collaborating with Mossad. 'In a twist of irony, Khamenei created these extreme ideological ranks to consolidate power — and now they're more radical than he is,' Aarabi said. 'He's struggling to control them.' A purge is likely, along with the rise of younger, less experienced commanders with far higher risk tolerance — a shift that could make the IRGC more volatile both domestically and internationally. With Iran's conventional military doctrine in ruins, terrorism may become its primary lever of influence. 'The regime's three pillars — militias, ballistic missiles, and its nuclear program — have all been decapitated or severely degraded,' Aarabi said. 'That leaves only asymmetric warfare: soft-target terrorism with plausible deniability.' Despite the regime's brutal turn inward, Aarabi insists this is a sign of weakness, not strength. 'If the Islamic Republic were confident, it wouldn't need to crush its people this way,' he said. 'It's acting out of fear. But until the regime's suppressive apparatus is dismantled, the streets will remain silent — and regime change remains unlikely.'
