Christian asylum claims under scrutiny after Clapham attack

Asylum applications based on claims of conversion to Christianity are facing fresh scrutiny after an acid attack on a girl and her two children in London’s Clapham South area. 

The suspect within the attack was identified by police as Abdul Ezedi, an Afghan refugee who arrived illegally within the UK in 2016 and was convicted of sexual assault in Newcastle in 2018. 

A nationwide manhunt is underway to catch Ezedi after he fled the scene of Wednesday’s attack.

It emerged this week that the 35 12 months old was allowed to remain within the UK after claiming he had converted to Christianity and that his life could be in peril if he returned to Afghanistan. 

His conversion claim is reported to have been vouched for by a vicar, resulting in fresh criticism of the Church of England. 

The Church got here under pressure in 2021 after an attempted terror attack in Liverpool. The suspect, who was the one death within the attack, was 32 12 months old Emad Al Swealmeen who had also claimed to be a convert to Christianity before his asylum bid was rejected.

At the time, Sam Ashworth-Hayes, of the counter-extremist Henry Jackson Society, accused the Church of England of being “hopelessly naïve”. 

After Wednesday’s attack, he said that “nothing appears to have been done” about migrants “using ‘conversion’ to Christianity as a backdoor path to staying within the UK”. 

Priest and broadcaster Calvin Robinson said that Ezedi “have to be deported” and “the Church of England have to be held to account”. 

A spokesman for the Church of England said on Friday that it was the job of the Home Office, not the Church, to weigh up the merits of asylum claims.

“This is clearly a shocking and distressing incident, and our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by it,” he said. 

“It is the role of the Home Office, and never the Church, to vet asylum seekers and judge the merits of their individual cases.”