Sudanese refugee (30) who has never come into contact with the law: this is what we already know about a suspected knife attack in Belfast | News

According to the police, the suspect in Monday evening’s horrific knife attack in the Northern Irish capital Belfast has never come into contact with justice before. The tabloid ‘Daily Mail’ writes that he received a temporary residence permit three years ago through an accelerated procedure and that is now causing criticism. This is what we already know about Hadi Alodid (30), who is now accused of murder.

The images are shocking to watch. A man sits on top of another man in the middle of the street and stabs him several times with a knife. The victim tries to wriggle free, but it is only when some local residents rush to his aid that he can be freed.

The suspect was arrested and identified as 30-year-old Hadi Alodid. The man is from Sudan and currently lives in north Belfast.

According to the British Home Office, he entered the country in 2023 and was granted refugee status that same year.

Police say the man traveled from Sudan first to Paris, then flew to the Irish capital Dublin and then traveled by bus to Belfast. He was able to make the latter move without passing through a border control, because Ireland and the United Kingdom are part of the Common Travel Area (CTA), which allows you to travel freely between the countries.

On February 10, 2023 – the day he moved to Belfast – he immediately applied for asylum. His application would have been approved through an accelerated procedure, which was introduced at the time by the conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Alodid only had to complete a ten-page questionnaire, rather than going through a process of personal interviews, which is much more thorough.

The accelerated procedure was introduced at the time to eliminate the backlog of asylum applications. Refugees from countries such as Sudan had easier access to the United Kingdom, because the majority of their applications were approved anyway, due to bloody conflicts in their country of origin.

Alodid received his residence permit in September 2023 and was allowed to stay in the country until 2028.

According to the police, he has never come into contact with the law. “There is no trace of the suspect in any of our national security databases and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland,” it said.

The man has been charged with attempted murder, possession of a sharp object in a public place and making death threats against an NHS health worker.

He appeared in court for the first time yesterday via a video link from the cell. He cannot be released on bail and will remain in pre-trial detention, at least until he appears in court again on July 8.

There have been riots in Belfast in recent days in the aftermath of the assassination attempt. Cars and even houses were set on fire.

Extreme right-wing figures such as Tommy Robinson and American billionaire Elon Musk are calling for protests and fueling the unrest. However, according to Hilary Benn, the British minister for Northern Ireland, there is “racist violence”. He explicitly condemned that.

The victim of the knife attack lost his eye. His family calls the riots “horrible” and emphasizes that they “absolutely do not support the reaction of the rioters.”