Fury has erupted over revelations that a small boat migrant convicted of murder in Egypt before committing a sex attack on an unconscious woman was staying in an asylum hotel in Brighton. Violent thug Karin Al-Danasurt was attempting to escape the death penalty in his native country when he crossed the English Channel in a small boat in 2024.
How the convicted murderer entered the UK
It is believed the Egyptian national duped immigration officials by providing a false name, enabling him to lodge an asylum claim. He fled Egypt in 2022 after being convicted of murder and spent two years living as a fugitive in Europe before making his way to the UK.
Al-Danasurt, 20, along with fellow asylum seekers Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, also from Egypt, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, from Iran, were found guilty of brutally raping a woman repeatedly as she walked home from a nightclub. The verdict followed a five-week trial during which jurors heard the smirking offenders treated their defenceless victim like 'meat'.
Political backlash
MPs reacted furiously on Thursday night, questioning how a convicted murderer managed to enter the UK and commit a heinous crime. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch expressed concern about the number of men arriving illegally with 'backwards and medieval' views on women. She stated: 'There are people who are taking our country for a ride, are coming here trying to claim asylum, which is for genuine refugees, when really they come here to do harm to others. As a woman in particular, I do worry so much about a lot of men coming here with attitudes that are backwards and medieval and thinking that they can do whatever they like. We need to be very tough on them.'
Robert Jenrick, former Tory immigration minister until 2023 and now representing Reform UK, said: 'These evil men should never have been in our country. I couldn't care less if they have a hard time back in Egypt, they should be deported so they never step foot in this country again.'
Questions over asylum hotel accommodation
News of Al-Danasurt's previous murder conviction has raised questions about how he was able to remain in the three-star Cisswood House Hotel in West Sussex. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp also gave a damning response, saying British women and girls were being 'put at risk every day' by illegal migrants. He told The Sun: 'Scumbags like this murderer and rapist — who is also an illegal immigrant — should not be put up in cushy hotels at taxpayers' expense. This case shows that we have no idea what kind of men are entering the country by small boat — 70,000 of them since Keir Starmer became Prime Minister.'
Mr Philp suggested that migrant criminals could be deported within a week of arrival if the UK were to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
The attack and trial details
Al-Danasurt filmed on his mobile phone as his companions repeatedly assaulted the woman, in her 30s, who described drifting in and out of consciousness during the attack. She told the court: 'I was begging them to stop and they wouldn't. Every time I close my eyes I can see them laughing at me. Every night it bothers me. They thought it was funny. They have literally ruined my whole life.'
After the attack, the court heard the trio took a bus back to their asylum hotel and had a barbecue. Al-Danasurt shamelessly told jurors at Hove Crown Court he was trying to 'help' the woman by building up evidence of the attack, but he did nothing to stop the violent assaults on October 4 last year, carried out by his friends, who slapped and spat at the woman and made crude gestures. When quizzed about consent, he told the jury 'rape is sex'.
All three were failed asylum seekers. It is understood they have each lodged an appeal against the decision.
Background of the perpetrator
Only now can it be revealed that Al-Danasurt fled Egypt in 2022 after being convicted of murder, facing a lengthy sentence or even the death penalty. He spent two years living as a fugitive in Europe before making his way to the UK. When police searched Al-Danasurt's room at the migrant hotel Cisswood House in Horsham, West Sussex, the shocking details of his past were uncovered.
Officials have now vowed to deport Al-Danasurt and his two accomplices, also small-boat migrants. But the case once again exposes the fragility of the UK's borders, with Al-Danasurt among the plethora of small-boat migrants thought to have slipped into the country under an alias.
Al-Danasurt arrived in the UK by small boat on October 11, 2024. He gave his name as Karin Abdulaziz Al-Danasurt and said he was born on June 22, 2005, which would have made him 19 when he arrived and no older than 17 when he committed murder in Egypt. Foreign criminals are routinely refused entry to the UK, meaning he should never have been in the country. He was later granted a room at Cisswood House Hotel, Home Office-approved accommodation, where he met fellow Egyptian Alshafe. The pair became roommates, given they were both from the same North African nation.
Details of Al-Danasurt's criminal past emerged at a plea hearing in November last year, ahead of the trial, but the judge withdrew the evidence from the case after his defence team contested the conviction. However, jurors did not know he was wanted for murder. They deliberated for 16 hours and 28 minutes before finding Al-Danasurt guilty of four counts of rape, with Ahmadi and Alshafe found guilty of two counts of rape each.
Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC told the court there were 'ongoing inquiries' about Al-Danasurt's crimes abroad. All three defendants are now deemed foreign national offenders, meaning they can be considered for deportation. However, there are fears they may seek to appeal the decision on human rights grounds.
Border Security and Asylum Minister Alex Norris said: 'The perpetrators have now been rightly convicted. Once sentencing has taken place, we will move to deport them off British soil.' The trio will be sentenced on July 15.
