'Hamas supporter' who livestreamed arrival into UK before being placed in Manchester hotel jailed

Yahoo

19-05-2025

A Palestinian who livestreamed his arrival into the UK on a dinghy before being placed in a Greater Manchester hotel has been jailed.
Abu Wadee, an alleged Palestinian gunman who reportedly called for the slaughter of Jews, showed his efforts to get into the UK illegally on TikTok.
The 33-year-old, who is also known as Mosab Abdulkarim Al-Gassas, was arrested by immigration enforcement officers after arriving on a small boat in Kent.
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Canterbury Crown Court heard that Wadee paid smugglers 1,500 euros (£1,300) to cross the Channel from France to England.
He livestreamed his dinghy being approached by a Border Force vessel on TikTok.
After his arrival in the UK, Wadee was placed in a hotel in the Manchester area.
The defendant left Palestine in 2022 before making asylum claims in Greece, Germany and Belgium.
The court heard he had no familial or financial ties to the UK, and he had stayed between Calais and Dunkirk in France for a week before making the crossing.
Wadee pleaded guilty to trying to get into the country on March 6 without leave or valid entry clearance in Canterbury Crown Court today (May 19). He has been jailed for nine months.
He had livestreamed his arrival on an 'overcrowded and rigid inflatable boat', the court heard.
Judge Sarah Counsell, sentencing, said there is 'legitimate public concern about breaches of border control' over illegal boat crossings, which are of 'significant profit to organised criminals'.
She told Wadee that there was a 'risk of death or injury to you and others'.
The court was shown a 20-second clip of the livestream on Monday, but it is not known how many viewed it at the time.
Wadee has a large following on social media, where his TikTok videos attract up to 2.5 million views, The Mail on Sunday claimed.
He is alleged to have charted his journey from Gaza on the social media channel.
His arrival in the UK made national headlines after it was reported that Wadee, a Palestinian from the city of Khan Yunis in Gaza, had posted on social media support for terror group Hamas, and hate-speech calling for the death of Jews.
He posted a video on his Facebook page last September in which he is filmed calling for Allah to 'punish (Jews) completely', it was reported.
In another picture posted on Facebook in March 2021, it is claimed Wadee stared into the camera while smoking a cigarette and brandishing an assault rifle with a telescopic sight.