Newly-released documents have shown that a church in the UK that supported the asylum claim of a man who later carried out an attack with acid limited his rights to attend services after a conviction for sexual assault. Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, an Afghan citizen who arrived in the UK in 2016, was granted asylum after two applications and an appeal, with his conversion to Christianity playing a key role in the decision. Ezedi was convicted of exposure and sexual assault in February 2018, before the attack involving acid took place. His body was found in the River Thames in February of this year.
The documents also show that Ezedi had argued his conversion to Christianity was genuine despite doubts over his story by the original judge in his case. The judge questioned why someone who had been threatened by the Taliban would travel alone without his parents. Ezedi argued his conversion put him at greater risk even though he could not prove the Taliban knew about it. His asylum application was handled by Newcastle-based Collingwood Immigration Services.
Ezedi had attended Grange Road Baptist Church in Jarrow since 2016 and was baptised there in June 2018. Reverend Roy Merrin, former ministry team leader at the church, wrote to support Ezedi’s asylum application just eight months after his conviction. Merrin said Ezedi had established positive relationships with other church members and had shared his faith with non-Christians. Ezedi was legally obliged to comply with a safeguarding contract to be accompanied to church by male chaperones after his conviction.
Ezedi’s funeral was reportedly conducted by a mosque in west London, where he was buried. The request for a Muslim burial is understood to have come from the man’s friends and family and is not believed to reflect Ezedi’s religious beliefs
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