A terror suspect who escaped surveillance by dressing in a burqa is facing 20 charges for breaching controls, it emerged on Friday.
Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, who gave authorities the slip a week ago while subject to a controversial order that restricted his liberty, is supposed to stand trial next year for allegedly breaching his restrictions over a near 18-month period.
He is on the run after he went to a west London mosque last Friday, allegedly changed into a burqa, cut off and discarded his electronic tag, and then fled. He was captured on CCTV as he left the mosque.
It emerged on Friday that he had been remanded in custody twice previously for allegedly breaking a terrorism prevention and investigation measure (TPIM).
Mohamed, 27, is alleged to have tried to access the internet without approval, had a digital storage device and met a person without the approval of the Home Office. In total he faces 20 charges for alleged breaches of a TPIM and an earlier control order. The restrictions were put in place after the MI5 raised concerns about Mohamed, but the evidence does not exist to charge him with a criminal offence directly linked to terrorism.
TPIMs were introduced by the coalition government as a replacement for control orders. Critics say they are laxer than the previous measures. Mohamed was the second man under a TPIM to escape, and neither have yet been found by counter-terrorism officials.
A warrant was issued on Friday by Mr Justice Nicol for Mohamed's arrest after he failed to attend the Old Bailey for a hearing about the alleged breaches.
Mohamed's solicitor Gareth Peirce said she had "no reason for the defendant's non-appearance" and claimed her client was forcibly removed from Somalia to this country by British authorities and security services.
Outside court, Peirce said: "We have the most serious concerns in relation to a young man who was hideously tortured in Somalia for two months, was forcibly and illegally deported to this country and where the question has been repeatedly raised of the complicity of the British authorities and the security services in that unlawful removal."
It is alleged Mohamed fought alongside and received training from the al-Qaida-inspired al-Shabaab terrorist group.
Mohamed is facing six charges over disobeying the terms of his TPIM, concerning his failure to report to Acton police station on six occasions in December 2012.
He faces another 14 counts of alleged breaches between August and October 2011 of a control order, the predecessor to TPIMs, which include failing to report to an Ipswich police station and possessing a mobile phone he had not been given permission to have.
He is due to stand trial for the alleged breaches on 28 April next year.
In a separate legal proceeding, Mohamed is suing the government, claiming that it was complicit in his torture in Somaliland. He has claimed his detention and questioning were orchestrated by the British authorities.