UK jails Iraqi convicted ISIS member for illegal entry
Shafaq News- London
An Iraqi man previously convicted of ISIS membership in Germany was sentenced to two years in prison in the United Kingdom after illegally entering the country by small boat from France, The Telegraph reported on Thursday.
Mohammed Yaseen, 35, pleaded guilty to attempting to enter the UK without valid immigration clearance. Prosecutors told Winchester Crown Court that he had served four years and three months in prison for ISIS membership and participation in a terrorist organization. Although barred from returning to Germany for 20 years, he was not deported to Iraq and instead traveled to Britain after watching TikTok videos portraying the country as welcoming to asylum seekers and respectful of human rights.
Yaseen crossed the English Channel on Dec. 13 aboard a small boat carrying about 80 migrants. After being intercepted and taken to an immigration facility in Kent, he allegedly identified himself as Kuwaiti and applied for asylum, but fingerprint checks later confirmed his identity, leading to his arrest at a hotel in Basingstoke on Christmas Eve. The prosecution also alleged that he had used false identities in asylum applications in both Germany and the UK.
Evidence from the German case showed that Yaseen joined ISIS in Iraq in 2014, witnessed public executions, stonings, and floggings, and was found carrying a Kalashnikov rifle, with the prosecution arguing that his extremist background placed him in the “high-risk” category across all security assessments.
Defense lawyer Katie Porter-Windley maintained that her client's terrorism conviction was unrelated to the immigration offense and said he had committed no further crimes in the UK, while also contending that an Arabic interpreter was required to communicate with him, an assertion the prosecution disputed.
Judge Parker ruled that Yaseen had voluntarily joined and supported ISIS before imposing the two-year sentence. He could face deportation after completing his prison term.
