Shadow Justice Secretary Nick Timothy MP and Henry Jackson Society research fellow Emma Schubart have written to Justice Secretary David Lammy demanding urgent clarification over the release of Haroon Aswat, a man with longstanding links to al-Qaeda and the 7/7 London bombings, from secure psychiatric detention.
Who is Haroon Aswat?
Aswat, now 50, was jailed for 20 years for plotting to set up an extremist training camp in 1999. He was sentenced by a United States federal court for his participation in global terrorism plots. He has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a condition marked by unpredictable and aggressive behaviour.
While in US custody, Aswat reportedly confessed to involvement in both the 9/11 attacks and the 7/7 London bombings, and is understood to have trained at a camp in Afghanistan in 2001 before staying at an al-Qaeda safe house in Pakistan, where he met two of the 7/7 bombers. Police reportedly traced a series of calls made by the 7/7 suicide bombers in the hours before their attacks to a phone linked to him.
His original sentence was later reduced to seven years to account for time spent detained at Broadmoor Hospital prior to extradition, and he was deported back to Britain in 2022, where he was detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital under the Mental Health Act — a move reportedly motivated by national security concerns.
Release Despite Security Warnings
A High Court hearing in 2025 found that Aswat could be released after completing treatment for his mental illness, despite the court being told that several police assessments still considered him a risk to national security. A psychiatrist involved in his case noted that even when in a relatively stable mental state, Aswat continued to express violent extremist Islamic ideology, and flagged him as still ambivalent about medication and prone to relapse into violent outbursts.
According to reporting on his case, he has since transitioned from secure psychiatric confinement to a highly managed community monitoring regime, with counter-terrorism authorities imposing additional safeguards. In April 2025, the Metropolitan Police secured a strict terrorist notification order against him in the High Court.
The Letter to Lammy
In a letter dated 10 July 2026, Timothy — who holds the role of Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Lord Chancellor — and Schubart wrote that the case “appears to engage directly” the concerns raised in a 2020 Independent Review of Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) for Terrorist Risk Offenders, carried out by Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation. That review had warned of gaps in oversight when terrorist-risk offenders are managed through mental-health rather than criminal-justice routes, and called for earlier MAPPA involvement and better integration of counter-terrorism intelligence into discharge decisions.
The letter poses four questions to the Justice Secretary:
- What specific steps have been taken since the 2020 MAPPA review to implement its recommendations for terrorist risk offenders in mental health settings, including information-sharing with the Mental Health Casework Section and earlier application of MAPPA-style oversight.
- Whether a review is being undertaken into the circumstances of Aswat’s release and the adequacy of current safeguards where the Mental Health Act intersects with terrorism-related cases.
- Whether the government intends to introduce legislative or procedural changes to ensure terrorist risk is given proper weight in discharge decisions, including where extremist ideology persists independently of mental disorder.
- Whether the government intends to require that all individuals convicted of terrorism offences discharged from secure psychiatric hospitals undergo a formal terrorism risk assessment prior to release, regardless of whether they are released under the Mental Health Act or through the criminal justice system.
Timothy and Schubart asked for “a substantive response as promptly as possible,” citing the significant public interest in the matter.
The Ministry of Justice has not yet issued a public response to the letter.
This is a developing story.
READ LETTER IN FULL TO JUSTICE SECRETARY DAVID LAMMY:
Dear Justice Secretary,
We are writing to express serious concern about the recent release of Haroon Aswat from secure mental health detention, and to seek urgent clarification on what steps your department is taking to address the systemic risks identified in Jonathan Hall KC’s 2020
Independent Review of MAPPA for Terrorist Risk Offenders.
Mr. Aswat has well-documented Islamist extremist links, including connections to al-Qaeda activity and the 7/7 London bombings. He was discharged from Bethlem Royal Hospital after completing treatment for schizoaffective disorder under the Mental Health Act 1983, despite counter-terrorism police assessing that he continued to pose a national-security risk and psychiatric reports noting his continued support for violent Islamist extremism even when mentally stable.
This case appears to engage directly the concerns raised in Annex C of the 2020 MAPPA review, which warned of gaps when terrorist-risk offenders are managed through mental-health rather than criminal-justice routes. The review called for earlier MAPPA involvement, better integration of sensitive counter-terrorism intelligence, and clearer processes to ensure that discharge decisions properly account for continuing terrorist risk.
The Aswat case suggests these safeguards may remain inadequate. We would therefore be grateful if you could clarify:
- What specific steps have been taken since the 2020 MAPPA review to implement its recommendations regarding terrorist risk offenders in mental health settings, particularly around information sharing with the Mental Health Casework Section and the early application of MAPPA-style oversight?
- Whether a review is being undertaken into the circumstances of Mr. Aswat’s release and the adequacy of current safeguards where the Mental Health Act is engaged in terrorism related cases.
- Whether the Government intends to introduce legislative or procedural changes to ensure that terrorist risk is given proper weight in discharge decisions, including where extremist ideology persists independently of mental disorder.
- Whether the Government intends to introduce a requirement that all individuals convicted of terrorism offences who are discharged from secure psychiatric hospitals undergo a formal terrorism risk assessment prior to discharge, regardless of whether they are released under the Mental Health Act 1983 or through the criminal justice system.
- Given the significant public interest in this matter, we would be grateful to receive a substantive response as promptly as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Nick Timothy MP, Shadow Justice Secretary and Shadow Lord Chancellor
Emma Schubart, Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society
