- Munir Farooqi was sentenced to four life sentences for his crimes in 2011
- He told undercover police they could become ‘martyrs’ for the jihad cause
- The Pakistani-born British citizen previously had his parole rejected in 2021
A Taliban extremist who plotted to kill British soldiers by recruiting jihadists using a market stall as a front could be freed from prison after being granted a parole hearing today, MailOnline can reveal.
Pakistani-born Munir Farooqi plotted to persuade vulnerable young men to ‘fight, kill and die’ in Afghanistan.
In 2011, he was jailed for preparing terror acts, soliciting to murder and disseminating terrorist literature and was considered to be one of the most dangerous recruiters the country had seen.
British citizen Farooqi was told that he must serve nine years before being considered for parole.
MailOnline can now reveal that the terrorist has an oral hearing which could see him released from jail – despite parole chiefs ruling three years ago that he should not be freed.
Farooqi – now aged in his mid 60s – used extremist literature and films to convert an estate agent, a former British soldier and members of a local criminal gang to Islam. A pair of anti-terrorism police officers infiltrated his group and found he had bragged to them about fighting with the Taliban and said they could be ‘martyrs’.
He was given four life sentences at Manchester Crown Court.
Judge Richard Henriques told him: ‘As a resident of this country you owe allegiance to the Crown. That appears to have escaped your attention.’
His trial was told that Farooqi had been born in Pakistan, and came to England with his family when he was five.
He became an active supporter of the Taliban and went to Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11 but was captured by authorities there and was jailed from November 2001 to May 2002.
When police raided Farooqi’s terraced home in Longsight, Manchester, they found a ‘production centre for propaganda’, including 50,000 items of extremist literature and up to 5,000 DVDs.
He was convicted of three charges of soliciting murder, preparing for acts of terrorism and distributing terrorist publications.
A spokesperson for the Parole Board confirmed to MailOnline that his oral hearing is on Tuesday.
A source said: ‘It is a worrying situation that this man could soon be out. It shows what the authorities are up against.
‘It is a 24/7 battle to keep the country safe from these types of extremists.’
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Isaac Crowson
