Headlines
Convicted terrorist wins UK legal case over 'unlawful' prison segregation
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 18, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on November 18, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
A UK court ruled that Sahayb Abu's segregation in prison was unlawful, citing mental health deterioration and human rights breaches.
LONDON (Reuters) -A man convicted of terrorism offences won a legal challenge against the British government on Tuesday for being unlawfully held in segregation for 22 hours a day after prison guards were attacked by another terrorism inmate.
Sahayb Abu, who is serving a minimum 19-year prison term for planning an attack in Britain, took legal action against the Ministry of Justice.
He was one of several prisoners who were segregated after Hashem Abedi, the brother of a man who detonated a suicide bomb after an Ariana Grande concert in Britain in 2017, attacked prison guards in April at Frankland prison in northern England.
In response, Abu – who had previously been put in a separation centre over concerns he could radicalise fellow inmates – and other people convicted of terrorism charges were relocated and put under strict segregation measures for staff safety.
Abu, who had pre-existing mental health issues, was locked in his cell for more than 22 hours per day and not permitted to associate with any other prisoner for more than four months, his lawyers told London's High Court.
They said Abu's segregation was severely detrimental to his mental health, triggering panic attacks and acts of self-harm, and that his segregation was unlawful.
Judge Clive Sheldon ruled that officials unlawfully failed to obtain information about Abu's mental health condition, when they were aware segregation could make it worse.
The judge also ruled that Abu's human right to freedom from inhuman or degrading treatment had been breached from mid-August, when he wrote to say that he would self-harm.
Sheldon said the segregation measures could have been lessened "without unduly compromising the safety of the staff", though he added he might not have found a breach of the human rights of a prisoner "with an ordinary level of resilience".
The Ministry of Justice did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Sam Tobin;Editing by Alison Williams)
Segregation in prison refers to the practice of isolating inmates from the general population, often for safety or security reasons. This can involve restricting their movement and interaction with other prisoners.
Human rights are the basic rights and freedoms that belong to every person in the world, from birth until death. They include the right to life, freedom of speech, and the right to education.
A legal challenge is a formal dispute brought before a court or legal authority, often to contest the legality of a decision, action, or law.
A prison term is the duration of time that an individual is sentenced to serve in prison as a punishment for a crime.
Explore more articles in the Headlines category
