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Haroon Aswat, now 50, was jailed for 20 years for plotting to form an extremist training camp in 1999.
In this courtroom sketch, defendant Haroon Aswat speaks during his guilty plea sentencing in federal court, Monday, March 30, 2015, in New York. Picture: Alamy
Haroon Aswat, now 50, was jailed for 20 years for plotting to form an extremist training camp in 1999.
However, after a High Court judge ruling last year, it is understood he has been released from Bethlem Royal Hospital in Bromley after completing treatment, and has been moved to another institution for specialist support.
Aswat has been diagnosed with a mental health condition called schizoaffective disorder - a condition that includes unpredictable and aggressive behaviour.
It was also considered a likelihood that he could radicalise impressionable recruits.
However, in 2022 a psychiatrist questioned the length of his diagnosis, suggesting he did not display symptoms over periods of his early radical behaviour - including in 1999.
In this courtroom sketch, defendant Haroon Aswat, center, sits next to his attorney Peter Quijano, left, while Assistant US Attorney Ian McGinley, right, speaks during Aswat's guilty plea sentencing in federal court in March 2015. Picture: Alamy
The psychiatrist noted that "even when in a relatively stable mental state [Aswat] has continued to express violent extremist Islamic ideology.”
They added that Aswat was “highly ambivalent" about requiring medication for his treatment, subsequently relapsing into violent outbursts, and flagged that he was still a risk for Islamic violent extremism.
Despite this, a hearing at the High Court in 2025 found Aswat could be released after completing treatment for his mental illness.
The ruling came despite the court being told that several police officers assessments' still considered Aswat “a risk to national security”.
A view of a London bus destroyed by in the 7/7 bombs in July 2005, which Aswat was linked to organising. . Picture: Getty
Aswat had been the subject of multiple lengthy judicial processes since 2005, when police traced 20 calls from the 7/7 bombers to a phone linked to him, made just prior to their attacks.
He was subsequently arrested and detained in Britain.
However, after a lengthy legal process, he was extradited to the US in 2014 to face allegations that he plotted to create a terrorist training camp prior to 9/11, under the influence of the hate preacher Abu Hamza.
In 2015, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a New York judge for supporting a foreign terrorist organisation.
While in custody in the US, Aswat reportedly confessed to being involved in the both New York's 9/11 attack as well as the 7/7 bombings in central London.
He is also understood to have trained at a camp in Afghanistan in 2001 and stayed at an al-Qaeda safe house in Pakistan, where he met two 7/7 bombers.
The suicide bombings by Islamic extremists on July 7th 2005 killed 52 people and injured 700 others, not including the perpetrators, during the morning rush hour.
The police van carrying Haroon Rashid Aswat to court over allegations that he conspired to set up a terror training camp in the US. Picture: Alamy
Despite his decades long sentencing, his term was later cut to seven years because of time spent detained at Broadmoor Hospital before his extradition.
He was deported back to Britain in 2022 and detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital under the Mental Health Act - a move understood to be motivated by national security concerns.
The decision had been strongly condemned by the shadow home secretary, who said it was "staggering" that a "violent Islamist terrorist with serious mental health problems" was being released.
A Home Office spokesman said that protecting the British public is the Government’s first priority.
"We have some of the most robust counter-terrorism measures in the world, including powers for police and intelligence services to monitor and manage the risk posed by terrorist offenders and criminals," they said.
Haroon Aswat, now 50, was jailed for 20 years for plotting to form an extremist training camp in 1999.
However, after a High Court judge ruling last year, it is understood he has been released from Bethlem Royal Hospital in Bromley after completing treatment, and has been moved to another institution for specialist support.
Aswat has been diagnosed with a mental health condition called schizoaffective disorder - a condition that includes unpredictable and aggressive behaviour.
It was also considered a likelihood that he could radicalise impressionable recruits.
However, in 2022 a psychiatrist questioned the length of his diagnosis, suggesting he did not display symptoms over periods of his early radical behaviour - including in 1999.
The psychiatrist noted that "even when in a relatively stable mental state [Aswat] has continued to express violent extremist Islamic ideology.”
They added that Aswat was “highly ambivalent" about requiring medication for his treatment, subsequently relapsing into violent outbursts, and flagged that he was still a risk for Islamic violent extremism.
Despite this, a hearing at the High Court in 2025 found Aswat could be released after completing treatment for his mental illness.
The ruling came despite the court being told that several police officers assessments' still considered Aswat “a risk to national security”.
Aswat had been the subject of multiple lengthy judicial processes since 2005, when police traced 20 calls from the 7/7 bombers to a phone linked to him, made just prior to their attacks.
He was subsequently arrested and detained in Britain.
However, after a lengthy legal process, he was extradited to the US in 2014 to face allegations that he plotted to create a terrorist training camp prior to 9/11, under the influence of the hate preacher Abu Hamza.
In 2015, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a New York judge for supporting a foreign terrorist organisation.
While in custody in the US, Aswat reportedly confessed to being involved in the both New York's 9/11 attack as well as the 7/7 bombings in central London.
He is also understood to have trained at a camp in Afghanistan in 2001 and stayed at an al-Qaeda safe house in Pakistan, where he met two 7/7 bombers.
The suicide bombings by Islamic extremists on July 7th 2005 killed 52 people and injured 700 others, not including the perpetrators, during the morning rush hour.
Despite his decades long sentencing, his term was later cut to seven years because of time spent detained at Broadmoor Hospital before his extradition.
He was deported back to Britain in 2022 and detained at Bethlem Royal Hospital under the Mental Health Act - a move understood to be motivated by national security concerns.
The decision had been strongly condemned by the shadow home secretary, who said it was "staggering" that a "violent Islamist terrorist with serious mental health problems" was being released.
A Home Office spokesman said that protecting the British public is the Government’s first priority.
"We have some of the most robust counter-terrorism measures in the world, including powers for police and intelligence services to monitor and manage the risk posed by terrorist offenders and criminals," they said.
