Islamist terrorist allowed to stay in Britain - despite having asylum claim turned down

Dan McDonald
Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:24:32 +0000

An Islamist terrorist who plotted to blow up the London Stock Exchange was allowed to stay in Britain despite having his asylum claim turned down.

Shah Rahman was jailed in 2012 - alongside three other extremists inspired by Al-Qaeda - over the plot.

Just five years later, he was released onto Britain's streets, but was later recalled to prison in 2022 for breaches of his license.

However, a fresh immigration case involving his wife has uncovered that the terrorist had been allowed to remain in the country despite having his asylum claim turned down.

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Rahman married Mauritian national Parveen Purbhoo while on license in 2019 in an Islamic ceremony in London.

She was later barred from Britain for life by then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman after officers at Heathrow Airport uncovered Isis-related material on her phone.

Her relation to Rahman can now be revealed after legal restrictions were lifted.

The judgement in the Mauritian national's case revealed that Rahman had lodged an unsuccessful asylum claim - shortly after his release from prison.

His application was rejected under Article 51 of the Refugee Convention, which can deny refugee status for those convicted of “war crimes, crimes against humanity, terrorist acts or other serious criminal offences”.

However, despite the claim being turned down, he was allowed to stay in Britain after a judge ruled that deporting the convicted terrorist would be a breach of his human rights.

The judgement read: “He was granted restricted leave to remain in the United Kingdom on the basis that he could not be removed to Bangladesh without breach of his rights under Article 3 of the Human Rights Convention.”

This article guarantees the absolute right to be free from torture, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.

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Following her 2019 wedding ceremony at the East London Mosque, Purbhoo applied for entry clearance to Britain.

Her first application was denied, but was accepted after she applied a second time.

After returning to Mauritius at the beginning of the pandemic, Purbhoo returned to Britain in August 2021 to formalise her marriage to Rahman in a civil ceremony.

After touching down at Heathrow, officers searched her phone and discovered Isis-related videos and images featuring soldiers and Islamist propaganda.

Despite the discovery, she was allowed to enter the country and lived with her husband until he was recalled to prison in 2022 for failing to inform probations services of a bank account, email address and phone.

A parole board's forensic psychology report noted Rahman's wife as being “complicit in the breaches for which Mr Rahman was convicted”.

On Monday, the Mauritian national was denied the right to appeal against her permanent exclusion from Britain.

The judgement said: “The applicant was complicit in Mr Rahman’s unlawful breach of notification requirements; and she has not provided either the police or SIAC with an explanation of how Islamist material came to be on her phone.

"Her willingness to place her own interests over and above legal or administrative processes is troubling and risky.”

It found the decision to bar her from Britain proportionate and said she had been “reasonably assessed as a national security risk”.