Suspected Hamas member guilty of UK knife attack

A suspected Hamas member, wanted in Germany over an alleged plot to murder Jewish people, has been found guilty of a knife attack on a bailiff outside his UK home. Germany-born Mohammed Alfatih, also known as Mohammed Naim, is reported to have acted as a bodyguard to the leader of Hamas before being granted asylum in the UK in 2015 and British citizenship in 2020. The 40-year-old was found guilty by majority verdict of unlawful wounding, possession of two knives and criminal damage.

He was cleared of the more serious charge of wounding with intent. The incident involving the bailiff happened in Birmingham last year, while Alfatih was under surveillance by a counter-terrorism unit. During the trial, jurors were shown footage of Alfatih brandishing two large kitchen knives outside his home in the suburb Kings Heath.

However, they were not told of his alleged links to proscribed terrorist group Hamas, as described in a German extradition request, or his reported work as a bodyguard to the former leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh.