Asylum claims primarily based on claims of conversion to Christianity are going through recent scrutiny after an acid assault on a lady and her two youngsters in London's Clapham South space.
Police have recognized the suspect within the assault as Abdul Ezedi, an Afghan refugee who arrived within the UK illegally in 2016 and was convicted of a sexual assault in Newcastle in 2018.
A nationwide manhunt is underway for Ezedi, who fled the scene of Wednesday's assault.
It emerged this week that the 35-year-old man had been allowed to remain within the UK after claiming he had transformed to Christianity and that his life could be in peril if he returned to Afghanistan.
His request for conversion is alleged to have been vouched for by a vicar, resulting in renewed criticism of the Church of England.
The church got here underneath strain in 2021 after an tried terrorist assault in Liverpool. The suspect who was the one fatality within the assault was 32-year-old Emad Al Swealmeen, who additionally claimed to have transformed to Christianity earlier than his asylum declare was rejected.
On the time, Sam Ashworth-Hayes of the Henry Jackson Anti-Extremist Society accused the Church of England of being “hopelessly naïve”.
He stated after Wednesday's assault that “nothing appears to have been carried out” in opposition to migrants “utilizing 'conversion' to Christianity as a again door to remain within the UK”.
Priest and broadcaster Calvin Robinson stated Ezedi “have to be deported” and “the Church of England have to be held accountable”.
A spokesman for the Church of England stated on Friday that it was the House Workplace's job, not the church's, to evaluate the deserves of asylum functions.
“That is clearly a stunning and distressing incident and our ideas and prayers are with all these affected,” he stated.
“It’s the function of the House Workplace, not the church, to vet asylum seekers and assess the deserves of their particular person instances.”
