Ex-Hamas bodyguard wanted by Berlin convicted in UK over knife attack

Mohammed Alfatih, 40, also known as Mohammed Naim, was found guilty by a jury in Birmingham, central England, of a violent knife attack in October 2025 outside his UK home in a dispute over his wife's unpaid parking fines.

According to reports in multiple UK media outlets, Alfatih was a bodyguard for Hamas's leadership and the son of a senior official of the Palestinian militant group, before being granted asylum in the UK followed by British citizenship in 2020.

He is also wanted in Germany over an alleged plot against the Jewish community there and is set to face extradition proceedings at a London court.

On Friday, he was convicted of two counts of unlawful possession of a knife and wounding an enforcement officer who was checking on a debt of over £2,250 ($3,000) in unpaid parking fines racked up by Alfatih's wife.

Footage played during the trial showed Alfatih brandishing a knife at the broken window of a van, leaving bailiff Kevin Bucknall with a cut to the back of his head.

The jury at Birmingham Crown Court was not told of the defendant's links to Hamas during the trial. He will be sentenced on January 11.

German prosecutors this year charged seven suspected members of Hamas for allegedly planning attacks in Germany and Austria to coincide with the second anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attack in Israel.

They identified one man as Mohammed A, suspected of being the ringleader and reportedly Alfatih, according to UK media reports.

German prosecutors said the suspect was arrested in London last November and had not yet been extradited.