The head of the North West Counter Terrorism unit Tony Porter is confronted in this video at Manchester Crown Court by Munir Farooqi’s son Harris after a judge ruled that Farooqi’s family could keep their homes.
Farooqi was convicted of terrorism in 2011 after a controversial undercover police operation involving officers who pretended to convert to Islam. Greater Manchester police then applied to seize the family homes saying they were used for the purposes of terrorism.
The court case ended in a partial victory for the Farooqi family who got to keep the three properties which GMP claimed were used for the purposes of terrorism.
Seven members of Farooqi’s family, from three generations, still live in one of the houses and claimed the application was a breach of their right to family life. On Friday, Deputy High Court Judge Richard Henriques agreed.
He said he was satisfied Farooqi had control of the house at time of his offences, but that his family did not know of his terrorist activities. He added that seizing the home would adversely affect the family, rendering six innocent adults and two children homeless.
However, it wasn’t all good news for the Farooqi family as Farooqi was ordered to pay £500k in costs (£400k towards legal aid costs and £100k towards prosecution costs) at Manchester Crown Court.
It is understood any cash recovered would go to the Treasury, not Greater Manchester Police.
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The Farooqi family still insist their father is innocent and was the victim of police entrapment.
