Focus on Migrants Claiming to be Christian Converts, Making Them Less Likely to be Deported, as Alleged Chemical Attacker Remains on Run

40 migrants on a single UK government asylum-holding barge have allegedly converted to Christianity, it is revealed as the sincerity of such attestations of faith comes into question in the wake of the Clapham chemical attack, the key suspect for which remains on the run.

A migrant who was granted asylum in the United Kingdom on the basis of having converted to Christianity, and who is now on the run after 12 people were injured in a chemical attack in London, has triggered deeper scrutiny into alleged abuse of faith to game the UK system. Abdul Shokoor Ezedi had already been rejected for asylum and got a conviction for two sex offences in the United Kingdom before he was eventually accepted around 2021.

The migrant is now a police suspect in the Clapham Common attack which saw a powerful alkali thrown at a woman and her children, the woman hit by a car, and a child “slammed” into the ground. Several members of the public and police officers responding to the scene were also injured by the chemical.

The fact Ezedi managed to secure his asylum status with a newly professed Christian faith despite his criminal past and being described by those who know him as a “good Muslim” has inevitably invited scrutiny. Comparisons have been made with the failed terror plot of Jamil Al Swealmeen in 2021, when the Iraqi male accidentally blew himself up outside a hospital rather than inside it. Fortunately he was the only fatality in that attack, but again it was revealed he’d used an apparently fake conversion to aid his asylum case.

Now the scale of Christian conversions within the asylum system is laid bare, with Britain’s best-known migrant holding centre the Bibby Stockholm barge home to 40 asylum seekers claiming to have changed their faith. Per a report in the Daily Telegraph around one in seven of those aboard the floating accommodation block are “attending churches under the supervision of local faith leaders”.

While the cases may raise key questions, the difficulty in proving whether conversions are sincere is not hard to grasp. A government spokesman told the newspaper that: “There are clearly general questions about whether it is really possible to credibly substantiate the validity of a religious conversion, particularly where that opinion might be a main defence and carry very important implications”.

Celebrity priest Giles Fraser struck similar notes, cleaving to the Church of England’s position that it is the government’ duty to determine whether asylum seekers are genuine or not, not the church’s, and saying: ” The unnamed priest who apparently admitted [Ezedi] into the church has come in for a lot of stick for being gullible in helping him convert… it is important to emphasise that the church has nothing to do with assessing the validity of asylum claims. That is for the Home Office. Perhaps the Home Office did decide to take into account Ezedi’s “conversion” – but that is entirely up to them.”

Veteran columnist Melanie Philips on the other hand has it that the Church is allowing itself to be exploited, knowing full well the power its recommendation holds at the Home Office, calling the Church’s position “disingenuous”. She noted of the state of things after the Swealman case: “a lay minister at the cathedral warned that some asylum seekers ‘attend church with the sole purpose of advancing their asylum claims’. It also emerged that on Instagram people-smugglers were urging migrants to “follow Jesus” to help them gain British citizenship.” It would therefore be impossible to argue the church was ignorant of its role, she argued.

Meanwhile, Pastor Graham Nicholls the director of a major group of evangelical churches in the UK has spoken out to say he believes some asylum seekers are indeed “faking it”, and that priests need to exercise “discernment” and look out for “red flags”. He said: “Sadly, in some cases, we may have to decide that for whatever reason they are ‘faking it’. And there may be contexts where we need to be especially vigilant and see ‘red flags’.

“We love heartfelt conversions to Christ from all religions and none, and we want to welcome those who face real danger in their home countries, but we are also committed to act with integrity and wisdom.”

The facts of Christian conversions and alleged attempts to game the UK asylum system aside, it remains the case the alleged Clapham chemical attacker remains on the run. Police have Ezedi him a very dangerous individual who should not be approached.

Remarkably, the Afghan migrant has not been captured after six days on the run despite having allegedly committed a crime in, and then crossed by public transport after, one of the most heavily surveilled cities in the world. The BBC have reported the Metropolitan Police’s excuse for their failure to track the easy-to-spot man, who vanished inside London, as being down to the fact that he hasn’t been using his payment cards or mobile phone while on the run.

A police spokesman said the search for Ezedi could now take “several weeks” and they believe that he is either being looked after by someone, or he has come to harm.