Three asylum seekers who arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel by boat have been convicted of a brutal rape on Brighton beach, with prosecutors alleging that one of them—Karin Al-Danasurt, 20—faces a murder charge abroad. The Egyptian national was found guilty of four counts of rape as a secondary party for encouraging and filming the attack in the early hours of October 4 last year, but the circumstances of an alleged murder conviction in Egypt remain sharply disputed.
Convictions and the disputed murder allegation
Al-Danasurt was convicted alongside Ibrahim Alshafe, 25, also an Egyptian, and Abdulla Ahmadi, 26, an Iranian, after a trial at Hove Crown Court. Alshafe and Ahmadi were each found guilty of two counts of rape. The three men are due to be sentenced on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, and have been remanded in custody.
Details of Al-Danasurt’s past emerged at a plea hearing in November last year. Prosecutors told the court he had been convicted of murder in his absence in Egypt, and that the basis of his asylum claim was to “evade a lengthy custodial sentence”. Murder in Egypt carries the death penalty. However, his defence barrister claimed it was in fact his brother who had the murder conviction, not Al-Danasurt. The judge withdrew the evidence from the trial because of the dispute, meaning jurors never heard it. At the same hearing, the defence pointed to the UK Government’s assessment of Egypt, which holds that a person openly critical of the government is likely to be at risk of serious harm.
Prosecutor Hanna Llewellyn-Waters KC told the court on Thursday, 23 April 2026, that there were “ongoing inquiries at a very senior level” into Al-Danasurt’s crimes abroad. She also disclosed that he had received a caution in the UK for criminal damage in April last year, but said she was “not in a position” to provide further detail. During the trial, the court heard that Al-Danasurt reportedly struggled to understand the concept of consent, stating, “Rape, to me, is sex.” The charge of sharing intimate images against him was removed during proceedings.
The attack itself was described in harrowing detail. The victim, a woman in her 30s, had become separated from her friends and was “staggering in the street” and “incapacitated”. Alshafe and Ahmadi took her behind a beach hut, where they raped her. Al-Danasurt then arrived and filmed the assault. Footage from his phone showed Alshafe smiling and sticking his tongue out during the attack. The victim reported hearing laughter and stated the assault was not consensual. Afterwards, the men returned to their Home Office-approved hotel accommodation for asylum seekers in Lower Beeding near Horsham, West Sussex, and had a barbecue. The jury deliberated for between 12 and 16 hours before returning their verdicts.
Asylum claims and the defendants’ journeys
All three men arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel by boat. At the time of the attack they had decisions pending on asylum claims, but all have since had those applications refused and are appealing the decisions. Ahmadi and Alshafe met while crossing from France and arrived in the UK on June 19, 2025. Al-Danasurt arrived earlier, on September 21, 2024; jurors were not told how he came to be in the country.
Alshafe’s asylum application had been refused on October 3, just a day before the attack, but he told the court he did not know about the update before going to Brighton that night. Giving evidence, he said he was from the port city of Alexandria in Egypt, where he lived with his parents and two sisters. He left school without formal academic qualifications and worked as a carpenter, completing three years of military conscription—compulsory for Egyptian males aged 18–30. Asked if his plan was to come to the UK for a better future, he said “Yes”.
Al-Danasurt was born in Egypt and attended school there until around the age of 11. He left Egypt for the UK in June 2022. Ahmadi told jurors he left Iran because he was working for a Kurdish opposition party and was discovered by security police, who went to his home and asked his mother where he was. “If I hadn’t left, I would have been arrested and been killed,” he said through a Kurdish Sorani interpreter. He had not been to school and received education only since being in prison. His father died when he was 13, and he worked as a labourer and farmer in Iran. Ahmadi moved to an address in Crewe after leaving the hotel, but his move had not been approved by the Home Office, and he was marked as “absconding”.
At the time of the attack, all three were living at the same Home Office-approved hotel accommodation. The UK has prison transfer agreements with more than 110 countries, which allow foreign prisoners to serve sentences in their home countries, but Iran is not one of them. The agreement with Egypt is voluntary, meaning the prisoner must consent to the transfer, as must both states.
Deportation plans and legal hurdles
In the wake of the verdicts, border security and asylum minister Alex Norris said: “Once sentencing has taken place, we will move to deport them off British soil.” He also paid tribute to the victim, saying: “What she endured is deeply disturbing, and I commend her bravery in coming forward and reporting these vile individuals. I share the public’s outrage in their horrendous actions.” However, prosecutor Llewellyn-Waters KC told Judge Christine Henson KC that deportation was “not a foregone conclusion”, adding “I am not the Home Office” when asked about reports to determine whether the rapists meet the threshold for extended sentences.
Under current law, most foreign nationals in jail can be considered for removal after serving 30% of their custodial sentence. The Early Removal Scheme (ERS) allows eligible foreign prisoners serving determinate sentences to be deported earlier than their full sentence, up to 18 months before their earliest release point. Once removed under ERS, they are not imprisoned in their home country but are banned from returning to the UK; if they return, they would have to serve the rest of their sentence. A 12-month prison sentence typically triggers deportation for non-British, non-Irish nationals, though exceptions exist.
The case has drawn political reaction. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the Conservative Party, told reporters in Pembrokeshire she was “disgusted” and said: “There are people who are taking our country for a ride, are coming here trying to claim asylum, which is for genuine refugees, when really they come here to do harm to others. This is why it’s really important that we solve this small boats crisis.” The Egyptian authorities have been contacted for comment. The victim is protected by law and her identity is not being disclosed.
