By M10News Crime & Security Desk|1, August 2025
A convicted Al Qaeda operative who plotted to establish a terrorist training camp in the United States could be released from psychiatric detention in the UK within days, despite no formal terrorism risk assessment being conducted, it has emerged.
Haroon Aswat, 50, originally from Batley in West Yorkshire, was sentenced in the US to 20 years in prison in 2015 for terrorism-related offences. However, due to time already served in UK psychiatric facilities, he was only required to serve seven years behind bars.
He had been detained at South London’s Bethlem Royal Hospital under the Mental Health Act since being deported back to the UK in 2022.
According to a report by The Sun, a legal technicality linked to how risk assessments are conducted in psychiatric detention means that Aswat could be released imminently without undergoing a full terrorism threat evaluation.
Court documents from an April hearing noted that his release was “expected in the relatively near future.” The hearing was held to approve a notification order requiring authorities to monitor his whereabouts upon release.
US court records also reportedly cite a confession by Aswat in which he claimed to be involved in both the 9/11 attacks and the 2005 London bombings. The origin and credibility of that alleged confession remain unclear, and it has not led to any new charges.
Aswat was widely reported to have been linked to the July 7 attacks in London, but he was never formally charged in connection with the bombings.
In the wake of the 2005 attacks, UK police sources said two of the perpetrators made approximately 20 calls to a mobile phone connected to Aswat, though it was never confirmed whether he made or received those calls.
Despite repeated scrutiny over his associations, Aswat was never convicted of the 7/7 attacks.
A psychiatric evaluation conducted in 2022 concluded that Aswat posed a continued risk of violent Islamic extremism, highlighting concerns about his influence over others, especially while in an unstable mental state.
Under UK law, a formal terrorism risk assessment cannot be conducted while an individual is detained under the Mental Health Act, limiting the tools available to authorities.
During the April hearing, the presiding judge noted that although no official terrorism assessment had been carried out, a psychiatrist had identified 15 out of 22 known indicators of terrorist risk in Aswat’s case.
He cited material from law enforcement officials assessing Aswat as a continued national security concern.
The court heard that Aswat had made threats against Jews, Christians, and Muslim groups he disagreed with, and was seen as capable of influencing vulnerable individuals with extremist rhetoric, especially during periods of mental instability.
The psychiatrist’s report warned of the risk of “Islamic violent extremism-motivated targeted terrorist offending behaviour” and manipulation of others to adopt similar ideologies.
Aswat’s background includes efforts to create terrorist infrastructure in the United States, where he helped plan a militant training camp in Oregon and Seattle in 1999.
The US Department of Justice described the planned facility as one designed to radicalise and prepare young men to fight abroad, eventually joining Al Qaeda forces in Afghanistan.
In 2001, Aswat reportedly travelled to Afghanistan and underwent training with Al Qaeda operatives, though he remained off the radar of Western security services for several years.
He was eventually arrested in Zambia in 2005, shortly after the London bombings, and transferred to a UK psychiatric unit due to mental health concerns.
Aswat was extradited to the US in 2013 and pleaded guilty two years later to conspiring to provide material support to a designated terrorist organisation.
Despite the severity of his crimes, the combination of psychiatric treatment and legal limitations in the UK means his release could come without a full security risk review.
Officials have not confirmed the exact date of his potential release, but authorities are expected to monitor his movements under the notification order once discharged from hospital care.
Editing by M10News Crime Desk | Contact: crime@m10news.com
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