Ex-MI5 agent who spied on Abu Hamza wins fight to stay in home

Réda Hassaïne has won his eviction battle against council officials

A former MI5 undercover agent who risked his life spying on radical Islamist preacher Abu Hamza has won his eviction battle against council officials.

Islington’s housing department claimed Réda Hassaïne broke the terms of his tenancy by disappearing for long periods.

But Mr Hassaïne, an author who has lived in Islington since 1997, denied abusing his tenancy and insisted he had to keep a “completely low profile” because of a fatwa threatening his life.

The council has now apologised to him for “misunderstandings” and for being “overzealous” after his case was reported by the Standard.

Father-of-two Mr Hassaïne, 53, was paid “a pittance” as an informer for MI5 and Scotland Yard’s Special Branch, exposing Hamza’s extremist activities inside Finsbury Park mosque in the Nineties and early 2000s.

Mr Hassaïne, an Algerian-born Muslim and British citizen, also informed French security about Algerian extremists at the mosque.

He quit spying after being brutally beaten by followers of Abu Qatada, the other radical Islamist cleric linked at the time to Finsbury Park mosque.

In January this year he went to New York, and was in court when Hamza was jailed for life on terror charges.Finsbury Park mosque has since sought to integrate into the local community.

Mr Hassaïne said he valued the anonymity his flat provides, and he was shocked to receive notice to leave. He said he does not answer his door to unknown visitors and sometimes has to live elsewhere for two or three weeks at a time.

He added that people released from Belmarsh jail told him about Abu Qatada’s fatwa and said “Be careful, they want to kill you.” He said he is still “keeping myself safe.”

Housing officers had told Mr Hassaïne they were unaware of his secret work but now say they know “why you keep a low profile”.

Partners for Improvement in Islington, which runs the borough’s housing, declined to comment.

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