Double-Murdering Islamist Terrorist Bags Nearly £250,000 Payout After Suing Britain For a Reason That Shock Everyone

A senior Conservative figure has described the decision as “one of the most shameful acts by a minister in recent times” after it emerged that a convicted Islamist murderer has received a huge payout funded by taxpayers.

According to reports aired on GB News, an Islamist terrorist who murdered two teenagers and later took a prison officer hostage has been awarded almost £250,000 in compensation and legal costs. The man at the centre of the case is Fuad Awale, who is currently serving a life sentence.

Awale was jailed for the killing of two teenagers who were shot in the head in what a judge described as a cold, planned execution on the Fishermead Estate in Milton Keynes in May 2011. The court heard that the murders were linked to a drugs dispute. He later went on to carry out another terrifying incident behind bars, ambushing a prison officer and holding him hostage while threatening to kill him unless Britain released extremist preacher Abu Qatada.

Because of the extreme danger he posed, Awale was placed in a special separation unit within the prison system. However, he later launched a legal challenge, claiming that being kept apart from other inmates breached his human rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. His lawyers argued that the long-term isolation caused him severe depression and interfered with his right to a private life.

A judge accepted that argument, ruling that the level and length of the isolation amounted to a significant interference with his rights. As a result, Justice Secretary David Lammy agreed to pay Awale £7,500 in compensation. On top of that, the taxpayer was left to cover a legal bill of around £234,000.

During the court hearing, it was revealed that Awale has been held at HMP Woodhill since 2021 and had not mixed with other prisoners since March 17, 2023. For long periods, he was allowed out of his cell for as little as one hour a day. His legal team argued that decisions to keep him isolated were unclear, poorly explained, and not reviewed often enough, as prison rules require.

In a letter explaining the settlement, Mr Lammy said the £7,500 compensation payment was only a small part of the overall cost and stressed that the Ministry of Justice had contested the case, as it does in all legal actions brought by prisoners convicted of terrorist offences. He also said the government is now looking closely at the rules around prison separation to make sure they remain strong, appropriate, and trusted by the public.

At the same time, a wider review led by terrorism watchdog Jonathan Hall KC is being examined. That review includes consideration of whether the Awale ruling should be appealed and also looks at prison security following a recent knife attack on three prison officers by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.

The decision has triggered a furious political backlash. Former minister Robert Jenrick accused the Justice Secretary of putting the European human rights system above the safety of prison staff and the wider public. He said Mr Lammy could have appealed the ruling or pushed through emergency legislation but failed to do either. Instead, he claimed, the government bowed to one of Britain’s most dangerous terrorists and handed him a massive payout.

Awale’s past crimes continue to fuel public anger. He was sentenced in January 2013 to a minimum of 38 years in prison for the murders of Mohammed Abdi Farah and Amin Ahmed Ismail. Just days after the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby by Islamist extremists in Woolwich, Awale carried out his hostage-taking attack in prison. During that incident, he pinned an officer to a chair, held a sharp object to his throat, and chillingly warned that he had already killed two people and would kill again.

The court also heard that, while in isolation, Awale had asked to mix with one of Rigby’s killers, a request that was refused because of serious counter-terrorism concerns.

The case has reignited a bitter debate over human rights law, prison safety, and whether convicted terrorists should ever be entitled to compensation, especially when their crimes and behaviour have posed such grave risks to others.