Bangladeshi Migrant Cannot Be Deported Because He Would Be Jailed for 20 Years on Bomb Charges if He Returned Home

A court has ruled that a migrant from Bangladesh cannot be deported because he would be thrown in jail for 20 years for bomb charges.

The migrant won his asylum case and will remain in Britain after successfully arguing that he would be sent to jail for 20 years in his home country on ‘bogus’ explosives charges.

He insisted the allegations were false and ‘politically motivated’ and that the previous regime in Bangladesh persecuted him because he supported the opposing party.

The man has not been named, but seven men were previously charged and convicted for making explosives.

Ahsan Habib, Mostafa Kamal, Mehedi Hasan, Rabiul Islam, Monowar Hossain, Jamirul Islam, and Moynul Islam were sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The Home Office accepted the bomb charges were probably bogus but said he could be deported without any risk of being imprisoned.

However a court ruled in his favour and he was allowed to remain in the UK.

According to local reports, the man and his group were part of Islami Chhatra Shibir, a student wing of the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami political party.

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The migrant, who was referred to as MM, said he was a ‘political leader’ of Islami Chhatra Shibir and claimed the Awami League made false criminal charges against him.

He said the criminal case was lodged against him while he was away in Cyprus in 2015.

The Bangladeshi man provided documents proving his sentence and the charges to the tribunal, which were verified as genuine.

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However the Home Office argued that a change in regime in Bangladesh, since Hasina and the Awami League were removed from power, meant that the migrant would no longer face prosecution in his home country.

Judge Reeds said: ‘Mr Wain submitted that the preserved finding that the documents from the court were genuinely issued did not mean that MM would be of interest to the authorities because there now was a change in government.

‘He submitted that the Awami League no longer held power and MM had not shown that the authorities were interested in him. MM has also not contacted his party in Bangladesh to see if he could obtain the withdrawal of the charges.’

However she concluded that the migrant could still be at risk because the Awami League had not been completely ‘wiped out’.

She said: ‘The Awami League is not wiped out and as stated in the report, state bureaucracy and law enforcement agencies also still contain vast pro Awami league elements appointed by the previous regime and that the reforms will take years to consolidate.’

Judge Reeds said that a report from the Bangladeshi government suggests that there is still instability that could cause the man to be arrested.

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