UK's top terror chief to tell hearing he should be freed from jail

One of the UK’s most dangerous terrorists will tell a parole hearing next week that he should be freed because he has finished a prison deradicalisation programme.

Ranzieb Ahmed - once said to be Osama bin Laden’s top European operative - will make his plea via video from his high security prison on Wednesday during a parole hearing that will test the appeal system to the limits.

MailOnline understands he will highlight the fact that he has successfully completed the year-long deradicalisation course and that is proof he is no longer a threat to the public.

The private hearing has the power to free Ahmed, the first person to be convicted in the UK of directing terrorism in 2008.

If he is granted a release on licence, Ahmed, 48, would be back on the streets in late October. His potential freedom has alarmed anti-terror experts.

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Former head of UK Counter Terrorism Chris Phillips told MailOnline:’Here is the former highest ranking Al-Qaeda operative in the UK potentially being released back into the community. Is this a risk we should be taking?

‘He has a history of fighting and is very unlikely to have seen the light and become a pacifist. We know that terrorists can waltz through de-radicalisation programmes and still be committed to the terrorist cause.

‘The attacks in Fishmongers hall attest to these dangers.’

In 2008, then aged 33, a jury found him guilty of leading a three-man Al-Qaeda cell which was preparing to commit mass murder.

The new appeal is significant as a ‘paper review’ in July 2023 decided he must finish a new ‘regime’ he had just started.

It is believed to have been Healthy Identities Intervention (HII) which is the UK’s main in-prison scheme to challenge the thinking of terrorism offenders.

A Parole Board spokesperson confirmed that Ahmed’s case would be heard on the 25th September.

In a statement the board said: ’An oral hearing has been listed for the parole review of Rangzieb Ahmed and is scheduled to take place in September 2024.

‘Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.’

In a 2023 written summary, the Parole Board stated: ’Mr Ahmed is about to engage with a specialist regime within the prison where he is located.’

The September hearing will be Ahmed’s third. Previously, there had been concerns about his ‘attitudes, beliefs, and behaviour’ in custody.’

At Ahmed’s trial, he was jailed for life with a minimum of ten years after Manchester Crown Court heard he was behind the terror cell.

Counter-terrorism chiefs were not sure where Ahmed was planning to strike, but were convinced an attack was imminent.

His scheme was revealed with the discovery of three diaries, which were found to contain details and phone numbers of key Al-Qaeda operatives written in invisible ink.

He was initially arrested by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency when he flew into the country in August 2006.

He was held for a year before being deported to the UK where he was arrested.

The terrorist is believed to be currently held at HMP Buckley Hall, Greater Manchester.