Libyan asylum seeker, Khairi Saadallah who stabbed three people to death in 2020, has been denied permission to appeal his life sentence by a British court.
Saadallah, 27 years, stabbed three men in Forbury Gardens in Reading, UK. He was sentenced in January, after admitting to the murders and three attempted murders.
The British Court of Appeal ruled there was “no substance” to Saadallah’s criticisms towards the judge who sentenced him, according to the BBC.
Saadallah’s lawyer, Rossano Scamardella had suggested the degree of premeditation and level of ideology did not reach the threshold for the life sentence. “We say the judge erred in that respect,” Scamardella told the court.
He added that the judge should have given a life sentence with a minimum prison term, and argued the attacks were not terror-related.
But the judge, Lord Burnett said the court has concluded there is no substance in any of the criticisms made of the judge’s conclusions.
“We are satisfied that the judge’s approach cannot be faulted, and there is no basis for suggesting that the whole-life order was wrong in principle or manifestly excessive,” Lord Burnett said in his ruling.
He added that Saadallah’s planning and premeditation was “clearly substantial,” and rejected the argument that he was suffering from mental illnesses at the time of the attack.