Thoughts on the Case of Abdul Ezedi
Abdul Ezedi's body was found in the river Thames in February 2024, ending a police hunt after a mother and her children were attacked in January. Ezedi won asylum in 2020 after proving his conversion to Christianity. Ezedi, from Afghanistan, was given a Muslim funeral and burial in London.
There was a highly publicised manhunt in the days leading up to the discovery of his body. CCTV photos were widely shared of Ezedi with bruising to his face, which indicated a violent incident having taken place. The mother, apparently known to Ezedi - or indeed being his former partner - and her daughter received life-changing injuries after being doused in a corrosive alkaline-based substance, which has a similar effect to acid.
There was much hand-wringing in the media over Ezedi’s supposed conversion, including photographs of his baptism. The fact is that people will say they’re anything in a bureaucratic world, based on tick-boxes. If the proof of faith is in the heart - or rather the mind - then there is no way of knowing. The fact that he was given a Muslim funeral by his family indicated at least they also didn’t take Ezedi’s conversion seriously.
Even as converts, Christians are still capable of wicked acts (for which they may repent at leisure). Simply converting to Christianity in order to make your life easier doesn’t absolve you of all passion or responsibility for its consequences. Honour punishments, such as what appears to have taken place here, are not just a Muslim phenomenon - it is a traditional Eastern practice that is seen by many as far more ‘core’ than the western liberalism which they would also like to enjoy.
So in a sense this is another facet of pluralism: encouraging asylum-seekers, whether convicted of sex offences in their home countries - as Ezedi was - or not, while hoping their ancient jealousy/honour based impulses have been expunged. Disturbed, dangerous individuals exist: in the police, in prisons, in psychiatric hospitals, in immigrant communities, and in the next street to you.
That the UK immigration system puts such emphasis on asylum-seekers escaping maltreatment in their home countries seems more and more untenable when those states could be simply glad to see the back of their own homegrown ne’er do wells, shipped west to try their luck in the Great Babylon. Ezedi, had he survived, should have been tried on the fact of causing life-altering harm to this woman and child, rather than having been an immigrant.
As it is, he apparently decided to face his punishment at a time of his choosing - he may well have been deeply psychologically damaged by what have happened, we’ll never know. But church conversion is an essentially arbitrary idea based on kindness, love, and trying to show a good path. This is what the British immigration system is based on too - despite the fact it’s obvious that many if not most are simply economic migrants, with scant loyalty to Britain beyond not sending them home.
What is certain is that while one Ezedi is more than enough, he certainly wasn’t the first to be guilty of such behaviour - and British cultural life can barely survive many more such stories.
Compelling Speech - The Stammering Enigma now available on Audible: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Compelling-Speech-Audiobook/B0CZGQ77Q2