Fuad Awale claimed he had suffered “severe depression” after he was denied from seeing other inmates.
David Lammy revealed the pay out in a letter to Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick (Image: Getty)
David Lammy has signed off on more than £240,000 of taxpayer-funded compensation and legal costs for a double-murderer, it has been revealed. It comes after the High Court ruled the treatment of Fuad Awale in prison breached his human rights.
Awale, who also called for the release of Islamist hate preacher Abu Qatada, is serving a life sentence for shooting two men in the head in a 2011 drugs dispute. Awale later helped take a prison officer hostage, which led to him being moved to a special unit for dangerous prisoners. He was then stopped from having contact with other prisoners, including one of the men who killed Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich in 2013.
Robert Jenrick said the amount of more than £240,000 was a “sick joke” (Image: Getty)
However the High Court in 2024 ruled that this had breached Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), his right to a private and family life.
Awale claimed he had suffered “severe depression” after he was denied from seeing other inmates.
Mr Lammy, who is both Deputy PM and Justice Secretary, has agreed to pay £7,500 in compensation and stump up a £234,000 legal bill for Awale, reports The Telegraph.
The payout was revealed in a letter to Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick. Mr Jenrick described the costs as a “sick joke”.
He told The Telegraph: “This is a double murderer and extremist who took a prison officer hostage.
“This is the reality of the ECHR: it prioritises the ‘rights’ of terrorists to associate with other extremists over the safety of our prison officers.
“Labour are cowing to terrorists and the human rights brigade. They must introduce emergency legislation to carve these monsters out of the ECHR immediately. If they don’t, we will as soon as Parliament returns. If they won’t support it, they are choosing the lawyers over the safety of prison officers and the British people.”
The prison service reportedly assessed Awale as having “extremist beliefs” after demanding the release of Qatada.
Mr Lammy suggested the Government was reviewing whether changes in law were required to prevent violent criminals using the ECHR as a “barrier to us protecting national security”.
In his letter to Mr Jenrick, he also said ministers were “actively considering” amendments to the legal framework for separating dangerous prisoners to ensure it remained “robust, relevant and trusted”.
This includes reviewing how the ECHR is applied, The Telegraph reported.
