EXCLUSIVE: Mohammed Hasseen was part of a group of six Muslim men who planned to set off homemade bombs as well as shoot and stab far-right EDL marchers in June 2012
A terror fanatic who plotted to spark a race war by bombing an English Defence League rally has been cleared for release despite a last-ditch plea by David Lammy.
Mohammed Hasseen was part of a group of six Muslim men who planned to set off homemade bombs as well as shoot and stab far-right EDL marchers. The sickening plot only failed because the gang arrived at the demo after it had already finished. In 2013 Hasseen, then 24, was sentenced to 23 years and nine months in prison after admitting terror offences.
But now he has been deemed fit for release, despite the Secretary of State for Justice appealing a Parole Board decision to free him. David Lammy MP argued the decision was “irrational and the hearing was procedurally unfair”, saying the board had failed to consider “reprehensible” comments Hasseen had made to a prison officer.
Sir John Saunders dismissed the application. He said “the offences committed by [Hasseen] were very serious and could have had fatal consequences” and acknowledged that if “he were released and committed another similar offence the consequence could be mass fatalities”.
But Sir Saunders said: “I am satisfied that the panel and the witnesses who spoke in support of release had this well in mind in the hearing.”
Hasseen and his terror gang were were fuelled by a torrent of graphic imagery as they plotted an attack on the right-wing rally, according to Nicholas Hilliard QC as he jailed them. The men amassed a huge haul of ideological material before their bungled attack on the EDL meeting.
Judge Hilliard said they “immersed themselves” in murderous videos and speeches. He said they demonstrated a “close and committed interest” in extreme Islamist ideology with an emphasis on “jihad and violent retribution”.
Between them, the Birmingham-based gang had around 18,000 pieces of Islamic ideological and extremist material on their computers and phones. The judge said the men wanted to spark a “spiral of tit-for-tat violence”.
He added it was “inconceivable” that their failure to carry out the attack would have stopped them from wanting to commit atrocities at a later date. As they were sentenced at the Old Bailey, their main target at the march, the then-EDL leader Tommy Robinson, shouted “God save the Queen” from the public gallery at the court in Central London as the sentences were handed down.
All of the gang except Hasseen had travelled to Dewsbury, West Yorks, to bomb the demo on June 30 2012. Mr Robinson was due to speak at the event but pulled out at the last minute.
The rally finished slightly earlier than planned and the 750 EDL marchers had gone home by the time the terror gang arrived with an arsenal of weapons including shotguns, swords, knives, a nail bomb containing 458 pieces of shrapnel, and a partially-assembled pipe bomb.
Instead the gang went for fish and chips before heading back to Birmingham in two cars on the M1. Police at this stage had no idea about the terror plot, but one of the cars carrying Omar Khan Jewel Uddin was pulled over by an officer in a routine stop on the motorway.
The Renault Laguna was seized because it was not insured, and Khan and Uddin were taken by police to a train station and released. It was only two days later that a horrified worker at a car pound discovered a bag in the boot containing the weapons.