Islamist double-murderer awarded £7,500 in ECHR battle | UK | News
Double murderer awarded £7,500 compensation and leaves taxpayers facing £234,000 legal bill he had previously held a prison officer hostage. Fuad Awale was convicted of shooting two young men in the head in January 2013. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 38 years. Awale was later given a further six-year prison sentence for threatening to kill a prison officer. Then compensation was awarded Supreme Court It ruled that his treatment in prison violated his human rights.
Awake Prison warden ambushed Richard Thompson Inside Full Sutton prison, nearby YorkAwale, along with fellow Islamic extremist Feroz Khan, held Mr Thompson captive for five hours; Meanwhile, Thompson was pinned to a chair, beaten, and threatened with death.
At one point, Somali-born Awale held a makeshift knife to the officer’s throat and threatened: “Stop struggling. I killed two people. I’ll kill you.”
Recalling the ordeal in court, Mr Thompson told jurors: “I saw Awale playing with the knives. At one stage he was rubbing the knives together like someone preparing to carve up a Sunday roast.”
Awale asked Khan: “Can I give him one in a non-vital area?” He later said: “I thought his head would have been ripped off by now.”
Khan broke Thompson’s eye socket as he and Awale demanded the release of hate preacher Abu Qatada and student Roshanara Choudhry, who attacked Labor MP Stephen Timms with a knife at his constituency surgery in May 2010.
Seizing the prison tannoy system, Khan announced the hostage taking and called for the news to be shared with the media.
Negotiator John Elliot told the Old Bailey in 2014 that he had informed Awale and Khan that their timing was “s***” and that their demands for media attention meant there was no chance people wouldn’t be watching the news as it was the final of “X Factor or Britain’s Got Talent”.
Riot police eventually entered and freed Mr. Thompson, according to the report. Daily Mail.
Awale was sentenced to an additional six years in prison, in addition to the minimum 38-year sentence he received for shooting two young men back-to-back execution-style over drugs.
Islamic extremist Awale has won a High Court case over claims that decisions to place him in a close control center (CSC) affected his mental health and violated his human rights. He was kept in solitary confinement, separate from other inmates, because of the risks he posed.
A series of events during his time in the CSC system meant he had not been able to meet any other prisoners since March 2023, according to a High Court ruling in September 2024.
The Supreme Court ruled that his treatment violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which protects the right to private and family life.
Details of Awale’s compensation were revealed in a letter from Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy to Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick, first reported by The Daily Telegraph.
Mr Lammy said the Government would “continue to examine” whether the ECHR constituted an impediment to the protection of national security.
Mr Jenrick said: Telegram: “It’s a disgusting joke that taxpayers are paying this man £7,500 in damages and footing a legal bill of over £230,000.
“This is a double murderer and extremist who took a prison officer hostage. This is the ECHR’s truth: it prioritizes the ‘right’ of terrorists to associate with other extremists over the safety of our prison officers.”
“Workers are bowing to terrorists and the human rights brigade. They need to pass emergency legislation to immediately remove these monsters from the ECHR.”
In his letter to Deputy Prime Minister Mr Jenrick he said: “This Government will not be intimidated by legal threats from prisoners.
“The separation center remains an essential operational tool to protect the public and other prisoners and when dangerous radicalists pose a risk they will be placed in one of these centres.
“This Government is committed to the European Convention on Human Rights.
“However, commitment does not mean indifference, and we must review whether implementation of the convention hinders our ability to protect national security.”
Independent Terrorism Legislation Reviewer Jonathan Hall KC told the BBC on Saturday that the Government could appeal the ECHR decision but must have concluded that it was not likely to succeed.
He said the Government would find itself in a difficult situation if it allowed the decision to stand, and there was a risk of this happening again if it did not change the law in response.
