An Iranian pedophile who has waged an asylum battle for 14 years claims he cannot be deported because he has converted to Christianity and has a cross tattoo.
The 45-year-old sex offender – described as a “danger to the community” but whom The Mail on Sunday is prohibited from naming by court order – was baptized just 11 days before making his last legal appeal to remain in Britain.
Last year, an immigration judge dismissed his claim, ruling that his failure to recognize the “miserability” of his sickening crimes showed he was not a Christian.
But in a shocking development, the judge has been reprimanded by a more senior judge for a “totally inappropriate analysis” of the pedophile’s “relationship with God.”
The case, which has already gone before six judges during a seemingly endless cycle of appeals, will have to be heard again in another immigration court.
The criminal, known as MM, is one of more than 300 immigrants who have filed appeals with the highest level immigration court for having converted to Christianity.
An Iranian pedophile who has fought an asylum battle for 14 years claims he cannot be deported because he has converted to Christianity and has a cross tattoo.
More than 300 immigrants have filed appeals with the highest-level immigration court for converting to Christianity.
Other cases include a 43-year-old Bangladeshi man who was jailed for a minimum of 12 years for murdering his wife, and a 37-year-old Somali career criminal convicted of 12 offences, including assault and robbery.
Meanwhile, chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi was granted asylum after claiming to have converted to Christianity, despite having two convictions for sexual assault and exposure.
Police were searching the Thames in central London yesterday, and officers said they believe the 35-year-old man is likely to have drowned after falling into the river from Chelsea Bridge.
He was last seen leaning over the railing shortly before midnight on January 31.
Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel last night described the MM case as “appalling”, adding: “The Church must stop helping dangerous criminals and those who seek to exploit our system.”
‘These violent criminals must go from prison to the plane. That’s what the public expects.’
The Church of England has insisted that it is not its job to screen asylum seekers.
Court documents obtained by the State Department reveal how MM entered the UK illegally in 2010 after leaving Iran. His first asylum application was rejected two months after he arrived, prompting a series of appeals.
Six years later, while waiting to find out whether he had been granted indefinite leave to remain in the country, he was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault and jailed for seven and a half years.
Court documents reveal that he committed sexual crimes against a child.
He was served with deportation papers in 2018, but filed a human rights appeal.
Later that year he began attending his prison chapel. However, in early 2020, his appeal appeared to have been rejected and he was on the verge of being deported.
He then filed a new human rights claim based on the risk of being tortured and killed in Iran for abandoning his Muslim faith. He also claimed that he would be at risk because his brother worked for the BBC.
On February 19, 2020 – 11 days after this new lawsuit was filed – he was baptized. He also claimed to have a tattoo of a Christian cross, although the Home Office alleged that his interest in Christianity began shortly before he was imprisoned.
In March 2021, Judge Paul Cruthers accepted his appeal and ruled that MM “had genuinely committed himself to the Christian faith” and would be at “real risk” in Iran.
The sex offender was baptized just 11 days before making his last legal appeal to remain in Britain.
The judge was said to have been “impressed” by the evidence of Wesley Downs, the head of the Christian charity Renewal North West, which organized a weekly study group at MM prison. This weekend, Downs declined to comment.
Later that year the High Court overturned Judge Cruthers’ ruling and MM’s case was returned to the lower court.
This time, in a scathing ruling, another judge rejected MM’s case and said he did not believe his claim to have converted to Christianity.
He criticized the offender for “minimizing” his crime and “victim blaming” and said he had “failed to demonstrate that he had honestly and sincerely acknowledged the seriousness of his sexual offenses against a child.”
Despite this, MM was allowed to appeal and in a ruling last month, High Court Judge Peter Lane criticized the earlier decision, saying the judge “embarked on an…inappropriate analysis, peppered with rhetorical questions , of the appellant’s relationship with God”.
The name of the criticized judge does not appear in publicly available documents and last week the judiciary refused to reveal his name.