Terrorist who confessed to masterminding 7/7 London bombings AND 9/11 'could be walking the streets of Britain in days'

Daily Mail​

6 days ago

A 'despicable' terrorist who confessed to his role in 9/11 and the July 7 bombings is set to be freed from prison within days despite officials declaring him a 'risk to national security'.
Haroon Aswat, 50, could be released from a secure hospital unit in the UK without a full risk assessment due to his mental health treatment.
He was jailed in 2015 in the US for 20 years having admitted trying to start a terrorist training camp in Oregon.
Aswat was visited by a British psychiatrist in America before he was deported back to Britain in 2022 where he declared: 'I'm a terrorist.'
Now newly-surfaced US court documents show Aswat also confessed to being a 'mastermind behind the [9/11] attacks and a 2005 attack in the UK', The Sun has reported.
In addition to his connection to the 7/7 London terror bombings, which killed 52 people, Aswat has also threatened to kill Jews, Christians and certain groups of Muslims.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said he feared Aswat's return to the streets of Britain and said: 'He should never experience freedom again.'
Despite officials admitting their concern and the High Court's Mr Justice Robert Jay previously saying there was 'evidence of an ongoing risk', Aswat will only be subject to a notification order upon his release.
It means Aswat must continually notify the police about certain information and keep them up-to-date.
These details include his address, foreign travel details and vehicle registration.
Earlier this year Mr Justice Jay concluded: 'These were very serious offences and there is evidence of ongoing risk.
'A risk assessment in relation to terrorist offending is always inherently uncertain and in the present case is compounded by the mental instability of the defendant.
'Overall, I am satisfied for the reasons that I have given that a notification order should be made in all the circumstances of this case.
'A psychiatrist has deemed his treatment as being effective and his release from detention is expected in the relatively near future, with the understanding being that he will return to his family in Yorkshire.'
He added: 'No formal terrorist risk assessment has been carried out since the defendant's return here. The circumstances of his detention have precluded that.
'However, on the basis of the material which is available the defendant has been assessed by various police officers — including the senior officer dealing with this case — that he remains a risk to national security.'
A document from the US District Court, which has been released for the first time, described Aswat as a terrorist and foot soldier of al-Qaeda, and revealed he openly admitted to his involvement in terrorist activities.
'In March 2017 the defendant stated, 'if you think I am a terrorist, I don't shy away from my responsibility' and also stated he was a mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks and a 2005 terrorist attack in the UK.'
The papers show that Aswat revealed his associations with Osama bin Laden and that he had spent time training in al-Queda camps in Afghanistan just months before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which claimed more than 3,000 lives.
His name was also found on a ledger discovered in a house in Pakistan where Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 'architect' of 9/11, had been staying.
Other activities included helping hate preacher Abu Hamza establish a US terror camp in 1999, staying at a house in Pakistan in 2002 - where he met two of the 7/7 bombers - and possessing a terror manual and alleged bomb materials.
Police also traced 20 calls made by the 7/7 bombers to a phone connected to Aswat.
Det Chief Supt Gareth Rees, head of operations for the Met's SO15 Counter Terrorism Command, said of Aswat in a witness statement: 'Based on my experience, this is conduct which gives me grave concerns about the risk which the defendant poses to the UK's national security and to the public.'
A report compiled by Dr Richard Taylor, who travelled to America in the summer of 2022, found Aswat still posed a risk to the public.
The report states that in 2017 Aswat made remarks to prison staff in support of Al Qaeda and threatened violence towards them.
In 2022 he sent letters which made demands and death threats, seemingly motivated by a terrorist ideology.
Dr Taylor concluded that he openly endorsed an extremist ideology, but there was no evidence that Aswat was mentally ill.
However he had had limited opportunity to address the extremist mindset and showed traits of glibness, superficial charm, charisma, intelligence and elements of manipulativeness and narcissism.
Even when mentally stable he continued to express violent, extremist Islamic ideology, Dr Taylor found.
The diagnosis showed a schizoaffective disorder with symptoms showing unpredictable and aggressive behaviour.
Dr Taylor did not complete a full terrorist risk assessment, but identified 15 of the 22 relevant factors in the government's extreme risk guidance.
He concluded: 'There remains the risk of Islamic violent extremism motivated targeted terrorist offending behaviour given his threats to kill Jews, Christians and certain groups of Muslims.
'There is also a risk of him influencing other vulnerable individuals, as when he is in an abnormal mental state his religious extremist rhetoric is amplified by mental illness.'
A senior police officer, Detective Inspector Karen Bradley, who was involved in the case, concluded that Aswat remains a risk to national security.
Aswat was born and grew up in Yorkshire but moved to Wood Green in north London where he fell under the spell of hate preacher Abu Hamza - and together they planned a terror training camp in Oregon with Aswat moving to Seattle to organise it.
He also spent time in Afghanistan and in Pakistan - where he met and associated with fellow Yorkshire terror sympathiser Mohammed Sidique Khan and his accomplice Shehzad Tanweer.
They would go on to carry out the deadly 7/7 bombings in London which killed 52 people on underground trains and a bus in July 2005.
Aswat served most of his sentence in America and was deported back to the UK in December 2022.
He is currently detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital in Bromley, south east London.
A Government spokesman said: 'Protecting our national security is the very first priority of this government and if any individual poses a threat to that security, the police and intelligence services have a range of powers they can apply to deal with that threat.
'We will always do whatever is necessary inside the law to protect the public from any risk posed by former terrorist offenders or people of terrorist concern.'