Al Qaida burka suspect faces 20 terror charges

Mohamed, who is the subject of a terrorism prevention and investigation measure (Tpim), disappeared last Friday by disguising himself as a woman.

Today, a warrant was issued by Mr Justice Nicol for Mohamed’s arrest after the 27-year-old failed to attend the Old Bailey for proceedings concerning alleged breaches of the Tpim and an older control order.

The judge lifted an anonymity order to allow naming of the suspect.

Mohamed is charged with six counts on one indictment, concerning breaches of his Tpim.

It is alleged he failed to report to Acton police station, as required by the order, on December 22 to 25 and December 27 to 28.

He faces a further 14 counts on the second indictment relating to breaches in 2011 of a control order, the predecessor to Tpims.

Among the charges, it is alleged he failed to report to a monitoring company, failed to report to Ipswich police station, met a person without agreement of the Home Office, and used an unauthorised mobile phone.

Mohamed’s solicitor Gareth Peirce told the court she had “no reason for the defendant’s non- appearance”.

Ms Peirce said Mohamed was forcibly removed from Somalia to this country with the “involvement of the security services here”.

Mohamed is due to stand trial for the alleged breaches of the terrorism prevention orders on April 28 next year.

Crown prosecutor Stuart Baker requested that the trial date remain fixed as the proceedings may continue in Mohamed’s absence.

Yesterday, fears were raised that Mohamed may have a second passport after confusion emerged over his British one.

Home Secretary Theresa May told MPs on Monday that officers had seized the 27-year-old’s British passport, but then revealed that this was wrong.

Mrs May initially told MP Keith Vaz in the Commons: “I do not have his passport, but the police do.”

She has now asked for the parliamentary record to be corrected to say: “I do not have his passport. Mohamed was not in possession of his British passport when he returned to the UK so there was no passport for the police to seize.”

Mohamed’s British passport was cancelled before he returned to the UK, and he was placed on a “warnings index”.

He is understood to have received training and fought overseas for al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based cell of the militant Islamist group al Qaida.

It also emerged yesterday that he is trying to claim damages from the Government over allegations that the British authorities consented to - or acquiesced in - his detention and torture by the Somaliland authorities on January 14 2011.

The High Court heard today that the Government may seek to block the claim because of his recent disappearance.

Outside court, Ms Peirce said: “We have the most serious concerns in relation to a young man who was hideously tortured in Somalia for two months, was forcibly and illegally deported to this country and where the question has been repeatedly raised of the complicity of the British authorities and the security services in that unlawful removal.”