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This was revoked by the Home Office in April 2020 after he visited Iraq, prompting concerns he was a danger to national security.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 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 own 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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