Britain’s top al-Qaeda terrorist leader will tell his parole board that he should be released from prison because he has completed the prison’s deradicalisation programme

One of the UK’s most dangerous terrorists will tell a parole hearing next week that he should be released because he completed a deradicalisation programme in prison.

Ranzieb Ahmed, once seen as Osama bin Laden’s top European agent, will make his plea via video from his maximum-security prison on Wednesday at a parole hearing that will test the appeals system to its limits.

MailOnline understands he will stress that he has successfully completed a one-year deradicalisation course and that this is proof that he is no longer a threat to society.

The closed hearing results in Ahmed being released, the first person to be convicted of directing terrorism in the UK in 2008.

If granted a permit, Ahmed, 48, would be back on the streets by the end of October, a move that has alarmed counterterrorism experts.

Rochdale-born Ranzieb Ahmed – once regarded as Osama bin Laden’s top European agent – will make his plea via video from his maximum security prison

The closed hearing has the power to free Ahmed, the first person to be convicted of directing terrorism in the UK in 2008.

Ahmed was described as the former most senior Al Qaeda operative in the UK

Former UK Counter Terrorism chief Chris Phillips told MailOnline: ‘Here is the former most senior Al Qaeda operative in the UK potentially being released back into the community. Is this a risk we should take?

“He has a history of fighting and it is highly unlikely that he has seen the light and become a pacifist. We know that terrorists can waltz through deradicalisation programmes and still be committed to the terrorist cause.

‘The attacks in the fish shop are proof of these dangers.’

In 2008, when he was 33, he was found guilty by a jury of leading a three-man al-Qaeda cell that planned mass murder.

The new appeal is significant because a “paper review” in July 2023 decided he should end the new “regime” he had just started.

It is believed to have been Healthy Identities Intervention (HII), the UK’s main prison programme to tackle the mindset of terrorist offenders.

A Parole Board spokesperson confirmed Ahmed’s case would be heard on September 25.

In a statement, the council said: “An oral hearing for the conditional release inquiry of Rangzieb Ahmed has been scheduled and will take place in September 2024.

‘Decisions by the Parole Board are based solely on the risk a prisoner poses to society if released, and whether that risk is manageable within society.’

In a 2023 written summary, the Parole Board stated: ‘Mr Ahmed is about to come into contact with a specialist regime within the prison in which he is located.’

The September hearing will be Ahmed’s third, after concerns were previously raised about his “attitude, beliefs and behaviour” in custody.

During Ahmed’s trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of ten years after the Manchester court found he was behind the terror cell.

Counter-terrorism chiefs were unsure where Ahmed planned to strike, but they were confident an attack was imminent.

His plan was revealed when three diaries were found, which turned out to contain details and phone numbers of key Al Qaeda members, written in invisible ink.

He was initially arrested by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) when he flew into the country in August 2006.

He was held for a year before being deported to the UK, where he was arrested.

The terrorist is believed to be currently being held at HMP Buckley Hall, Greater Manchester.