London: An al Qaeda terror suspect closely connected to Islamic State executioner known as "Jihadi John" is living in London, using the Human Rights Act to prevent the UK Government from deporting him.
According to court papers obtained by 'The Telegraph', the man is at the centre of a terror network that included his friend and associate Mohammed Emwazi, who last week was unmasked as "Jihadi John."
The unveiling of Emwazi, a Kuwaiti-born British man in his mid-20s, led to criticism of UK security?services for being aware of him but not preventing him from joining the Islamic State group.
The legal documents show how the suspect, originally from Ethiopia, has resisted deportation despite being a leading member of al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate based in Somalia and responsible for a series of terrorist atrocities.
The man, who can, for legal reasons, be identified only as J1, has close links not only to Emwazi but also to a number of other jihadists, including one of the July 21 plotters, who tried to blow up the London Underground in 2005, and two al Qaeda terrorists subsequently killed in US drone attacks in Somalia.
The UK Government's inability to deport J1, who was born in Ethiopia, will bolster demands for the Human Rights Act to be scrapped, the newspaper said.
The government's case against him finally collapsed in the summer after a five-year legal battle when the senior diplomat in charge of trying to deport terrorists conceded that the system was not working.
The court documents involving J1 and another terror suspect, known as CE, a father of two who was born in Iran, detail a large network of jihadists operating in west London in 2011.
CE cannot be deported either, having been given British citizenship in 2004.
UK shadow home minister Yvette Cooper said: "The government has serious questions to answer about their handling of J1's case and why Theresa May [the Home Secretary] hasn't put him under special controls to protect the public.
"This appears to be yet another case which exposes the extremely serious consequences of the government's decision to abolish control orders and weaken counterterror powers four years ago."
