Sole terrorist to escape alive when the SAS stormed Iranian Embassy may get asylum in UK after being released from jail
* That’s what Pat Condell meant when he said: “We have double standards to maintain”
Fowzi Badavi Nejad, the only terrorist to escape alive when the SAS stormed the Iranian Embassy in 1980, could be granted asylum
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The only terrorist to escape alive when the SAS stormed the Iranian Embassy in London 28 years ago is on the point of being freed to build a new life in Britain.
Iranian diplomats say they have been told a parole hearing will be held within weeks. They expect Fowzi Badavi Nejad to be freed soon afterwards and granted asylum.
Officials in Tehran have demanded his return so that he can face trial in Iran for the murder of two hostages during the siege in 1980, which would lead to an inevitable death sentence.
But the Daily Mail has learned that preparations are under way for 50-year-old Nejad, who is Iranian, to spend the rest of his life in Britain.
Iran has warned bluntly that the already strained relations between London and Tehran will suffer further if he is not sent back.
Whitehall sources accept, however, that there is no realistic prospect of removing Nejad as human rights legislation prevents Britain sending anybody back to a country where they are likely to be executed.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said: “Freedom of the terrorist is not at all justified and is a sign of the UK’s double-standard approaches towards the issue of terrorism.”
The release will be hugely sensitive and officials will seek to limit the political damage by awarding Nejad a new restricted type of asylum status.
* Not always are the Iranians wrong. Read it all
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