Alleged Hamas supporter jailed after trying to enter UK illegally
The court heard how Abu Wadee had livestreamed his arrival on a small boat from France
An alleged Palestinian gunman who reportedly called for the slaughter of Jews has been jailed for nine months after attempting to enter the UK illegally.
Abu Wadee, 33, also known as Mosab Abdulkarim Al-Gassas, pleaded guilty on Monday to trying to get into the country on March 6 without leave or valid entry clearance.
He was arrested by immigration enforcement officers after arriving on a small boat in Kent, having paid smugglers 1,500 euros (£1,300), Canterbury Crown Court heard.
Wadee was then placed in a hotel in the Manchester area.
He had livestreamed his arrival on an “overcrowded and rigid inflatable boat”, the court heard.
Judge Sarah Counsell, sentencing, said there is “legitimate public concern about breaches of border control” over illegal boat crossings, which are of “significant profit to organised criminals”.
She told Wadee that there was a “risk of death or injury to you and others”.
The defendant, who left Gaza in 2022 before making asylum claims in Greece, Germany and Belgium, had no familial or financial ties to the UK and had stayed between Calais and Dunkirk in France for a week before making the crossing, the court heard.
He livestreamed his dinghy being approached by a Border Force vessel on TikTok.
The court was shown a 20-second clip of the livestream on Monday, but it is not known how many viewed it at the time.
Wadee has a large following on social media, where his TikTok videos attract up to 2.5 million views, The Mail on Sunday claimed.
He is alleged to have charted his journey from Gaza on the social media channel.
His arrival in the UK made national headlines after it was reported that Wadee, a Palestinian from the city of Khan Yunis in Gaza, had posted on social media support for terror group Hamas, and hate-speech calling for the death of Jews.
He posted a video on his Facebook page last September in which he is filmed calling for Allah to “punish (Jews) completely”, it was reported.
In another picture posted on Facebook in March 2021, it is claimed Wadee stared into the camera while smoking a cigarette and brandishing an assault rifle with a telescopic sight.
Following the sentencing hearing, Campaign Against Antisemitism said the jailing of Wadee was an “extremely welcome development”, but called for clarity on what would happen once he has served his prison term.
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