Overview
- The Special Immigration Appeals Commission, in a ruling published Monday, disclosed that Shah Rahman was refused asylum in 2017 but given restricted leave because sending him to Bangladesh would breach Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
- Rahman was convicted in 2012 over an al-Qaeda-inspired plot that included the London Stock Exchange, was released on licence, then was recalled to prison in February 2022 for failing to declare a phone, an email address, and a bank account.
- Judges upheld the Home Secretary’s 2023 decision to permanently exclude his wife, Mauritian national Parveen Purbhoo, after officers found ISIS-related images and videos on her phone during an August 2021 search at Heathrow Airport.
- A parole board psychology report said Purbhoo was complicit in Rahman’s licence breaches, and a police report said she was blasé about the Islamist material and could not explain how it got onto her device.
- The case became public after reporting restrictions were lifted, and it shows how Article 51 of the Refugee Convention can block refugee status even as Article 3 prevents deportation of those assessed at risk of torture or degrading treatment.