Mohammed Al-Fatah, 40, was convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday of wounding an enforcement officer with a bladed weapon, possessing two knives and criminal damage. He is also wanted in Germany over an alleged Hamas plot targeting Israelis and Jews in Europe. Media reports identify him as the son of senior Hamas official Bassem Naim and a former bodyguard of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
The British case arose from a visit by enforcement officer Kevin Becknall to Al-Fatah's home in Birmingham's Kings Heath neighborhood on October 14, 2025. Becknall was seeking to collect more than £2,250 in unpaid parking fines owed by Al-Fatah's wife. Following a confrontation inside the property, Al-Fatah emerged carrying two large kitchen knives and half a brick. Court footage showed him pursuing Becknall's vehicle, swinging the knives toward a window and breaking the glass. Becknall sustained a head injury requiring hospital treatment.
Al-Fatah maintained that he had acted in self-defense, referring to traumatic experiences in Gaza and Egypt. He testified that he had previously been shot twice and had learned of his brother's death in Gaza the previous day. A psychiatrist told the court he had post-traumatic stress disorder. Jurors rejected his defense by a majority of 10 to two but acquitted him of wounding with intent. Judge George Lubega remanded him in custody for sentencing on January 11, 2027.
Also known as Mohammed Naim, Al-Fatah was born in Germany and grew up in Gaza. He moved to Britain in 2014, received political asylum in 2015 and became a British citizen in 2020. A reporting restriction that prevented his identification during the trial was lifted after Friday's verdict.
In a separate case, German federal prosecutors allege that Al-Fatah held a prominent position in a Hamas terrorist network and had links to its leadership. Their September statement announcing charges against seven other suspects identified him as Mohammed A. Prosecutors say he met another network member twice in Berlin during summer 2025, received five handguns and ammunition, and transported them to Vienna for storage ahead of planned attacks in Germany and Austria.
The alleged targets included Israeli representatives, Jews and people associated with Israel. An October 1, 2026, investigation by Austrian newspaper Der Standard, drawing on German investigative materials, identified Vienna's Jewish Museum and Austrian-Israeli Society as potential targets. German prosecutors said the network had accumulated an automatic rifle, 13 functioning handguns and more than 700 rounds of ammunition before arrests on October 1, 2025.
Prosecutors also allege that Al-Fatah recorded a video claiming responsibility for the planned attack on Hamas's behalf before it occurred. German and British reports said he wore a mask in the recording. The Guardian reported that intelligence supplied by Israel's Mossad helped German security services foil the plot. Al-Fatah was arrested in Britain under a German warrant in November 2025 and is expected to face extradition proceedings after serving any British sentence.
The Birmingham jury did not hear the alleged Hamas links or German terrorism allegations. Jurors were instructed to regard Al-Fatah as having previous good character because he had no prior British convictions. He was under British counterterrorism surveillance when the attack occurred and had previously been arrested and released on bail over suspected support for Hamas. That investigation ended without charges.
The Times reported that the Home Office is reviewing his naturalization file for possible false statements or withheld information. Responding to the case, the department condemned violence and the facilitation of terrorist attacks, and reiterated that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organization in Britain.
