This undated photo provided by Essex Police on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025 shows Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu. (Essex Police/PA via AP)

By The Canadian Press

London police arrest a convicted asylum-seeker mistakenly released from prison

Oct 26, 2025 | 2:43 AM

LONDON (AP) — London police said Sunday they arrested a convicted asylum-seeker who was mistakenly released from prison.

The Metropolitan Police said Ethiopian national Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu was arrested in the Finsbury Park area in north London.

Kebatu, 38, was released from prison on Friday in a blunder that has embarrassed the government.

The migrant was sentenced in September to 12 months in prison for five offenses, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in July in Epping, on the outskirts of London, just over a week after he had arrived in England by boat.

His arrest earlier this year had triggered a wave of anti-migrant protests in London and other cities.

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Thousands of people protested outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, northeast of London, where he was staying along with other newly arrived migrants. Multiple protests targeting other hotels housing migrants followed in other British cities and towns, with some demonstrations attended by far-right activists and spilling into disorder.

The group Stand Up to Racism also rallied in counterprotests.

Authorities said they were alerted Friday afternoon that Kebatu was released by mistake at a prison in Chelmsford, Essex, and was seen catching a train there. British media reported that he was wrongly categorized as a prisoner due to be released, instead of being sent to an immigration detention center.

The Prison Service launched an investigation, and a prison officer has been removed from discharging duties while that takes place.

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The Associated Press