A pharmacist convicted on a terror charge has been denied parole after appealing a decision not to grant her early release, documents last month revealed.
Qualified pharmacist Rowaida El-Hassan was found guilty in January 2018 of preparing for an act of terrorism along with co-defendant Munir Hassan Mohammed, according to Counter Terrorism Police North East (CTPNE).
Read more: Man who stabbed pharmacist gets 12-year sentence
CTPNE said El-Hassan, now aged 41 of Willesden Lane in London, had “readily passed on her knowledge” as a pharmacist to Mohammed, now aged 44 of Leopold Street in Derby, to give him “technical assistance” for preparing a terrorist attack.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) last week (October 28) confirmed to C+D that El-Hassan was jailed for 12 years with a five-year extended licence period.
Documents show that her sentence is due to expire in December 2033.
Met on dating site
The CPS revealed in 2018 that the pair first contacted each other in March 2016 through dating website singlemuslim.com.
El-Hassan’s profile read that she was “looking for a man I can vibe with on a spiritual and intellectual level” and for “someone who can teach me new things and inspire me”, it said.
Read more: ‘Blood-covered’ murderer holding knife confesses in pharmacy
At the time of conviction, CPS head of special crime and counter terrorism Sue Hemming said the pair were “clearly attracted to each other through their support for [terrorist group also known as ISIS] Daesh’s violent ideology and its intolerance”.
Messages sent between them showed how El-Hassan “actively supported” Mohammed in carrying out a “lone actor” attack, according to the CPS.
She had sent him links to websites on how to manufacture the poison ricin, while Mohammed sent back “graphic” videos of Daesh conducting beheadings, shootings and killing prisoners with explosives, it said.
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When Mohammed was arrested in December 2016, he was found with ricin alongside two of three components needed to create an explosion with instruction manuals on how to prepare them, plus mobile phone detonators, it added.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 14 years, according to the CPS.
CTPNE DCI Paul Greenwood said at the time of sentencing that El-Hassan and Mohammed were “dangerous, calculated individuals” and were “clearly conspiring to commit an attack in the UK”.
Parole rejected
An appeal against El-Hassan’s conviction was dismissed in 2019, before her case was referred to the Parole Board in April 2024 to consider whether it was “appropriate” to release her, according to a Parole Board document.
But last month (October 7), the board “refused” El-Hassan’s application for reconsideration of an August decision “not to direct her release”, it revealed.
Read more: Pharmacy assistant murdered by man with a ‘grudge against pharmacies’
She had submitted a reconsideration application in September on the grounds that the parole hearing decision published in August “contained errors of law, was irrational, disclosed inadequate reasons and was procedurally unfair”, it said.
The application argued that the hearing panel had “made no finding” as to her level of risk and “the refusal was solely on account of her denial [of guilt] and failed to take into account other factors that indicated a reduction of risk”, according to the document.
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But Parole Board member Barbara Mensah said the panel’s “clear finding” was that there was a level of risk “such that release could not be directed” even when taking into account the “positive factors”.
She found that while the panel “attached weight to the denial of guilt as they were entitled to do”, it “did not treat it as conclusive” against granting parole.
And she highlighted concerns about El-Hassan’s “insight and sincerity” and that she “was able to conduct her relationship and communication with her co-defendant in secret and not admit any wrongdoing”.
“Risk of re-offending”
Mensah also found that El-Hassan was attempting to “reargue matters already carefully considered” and stressed that disagreeing with the panel “is not enough to establish irrationality in law”.
She said that if a prisoner pleaded guilty or accepted their guilt post-conviction, they would be in a “better position” to address what led to them offending.
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But a prisoner who denies guilt is “less likely to express contrition or remorse or sympathy for any victim” or to “engage in programmes” addressing the causes of their behaviour, she added.
“All of these matters are relevant to the assessment of risk of re-offending,” Mensah said.
She concluded that the decision against El-Hassan was not “irrational, procedurally unfair or contained errors of law” and therefore refused the application to reconsider parole.
Read more: ‘Ponzi scheme’ pharmacist gets life sentence for husband’s murder
It comes after a man who stabbed a pharmacist during an attempted armed robbery last month received a sentence totalling 12 years.
And in June, a man who confessed to murder in a pharmacy was sentenced to decades in prison for a “truly horrific attack on a vulnerable woman”.
