Asylum Seeker Convicted Of Rape Faces Extradition Over ISIS Terror Charges

A 28-year-old asylum seeker faces sentencing next month after being convicted of raping a woman inside her Somerset home after she secretly recorded audio of the assault on her mobile phone.

Ayman Mohammed Al-Shammari was found guilty by a majority verdict of one count of rape following a trial at Bristol Crown Court. The Kuwaiti national, of Taunton, was remanded into custody by the trial judge ahead of a sentencing hearing scheduled at the same court on 27 November.

The trial heard that Al-Shammari had known the victim, a woman in her twenties, for a few weeks after meeting her on a night out. On 14 November 2025, Al-Shammari persuaded the woman to allow him to visit her residence in Taunton with a bottle of spiced rum after she declined an invitation to go out for the evening.

After a few drinks, Al-Shammari asked to stay the night, and the woman agreed to let him sleep on her sofa, explicitly telling him that they were only friends. Al-Shammari subsequently went to the woman's bedroom. Initial sexual activity began consensually, but the victim later told police she became increasingly uncomfortable and asked him to stop.

When Al-Shammari refused to stop, the woman managed to unlock her mobile phone to record audio of what was happening. Prosecutors played the recording to the jury, in which the victim could be heard crying, sounding in pain, and repeatedly saying "no" and "I don't like it" while trying to resist her attacker.

Following the assault, Al-Shammari took a shower inside the property before using Google Translate on his mobile phone to present a message to the victim asking: "This is how I am in sex, do you like this or not?"

During police interviews, Al-Shammari denied sexual offences, claiming that the victim had wanted sex and asserting that he stopped when the positions they tried hurt her.

The jury rejected his defence, returning a guilty verdict on 30 October 2026.

Following the conclusion of the criminal proceedings, it can now be reported that Al-Shammari is additionally the subject of separate extradition proceedings at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where he faces return to Austria in connection with alleged terror offences.

Extradition prosecutors allege that Al-Shammari entered the United Kingdom via a small boat crossing to claim asylum while trying to escape trial for terror offences in Austria. According to details disclosed during extradition hearings, Austrian authorities allege that Al-Shammari was a member of the Islamic State terror group in Iraq during 2016, participated in training camps, promoted terrorist ideology, and took part in terror operations affiliated with the group.

The jury in the Bristol Crown Court trial was not told about the pending extradition proceedings or the underlying terrorism allegations.

Following the trial, a Home Office spokesperson confirmed that foreign nationals who commit sexual offences will be excluded from refugee protections, stating that the government will do everything in its power to remove them from the country.