The Copenhagen City Court has rejected the prosecution’s attempt to deport Saad Magedy Saad Ali Shahien, a 30-year-old man convicted of terrorism, due to a procedural misstep by the prosecution. The court’s decision centers on the prosecution’s failure to reserve the right to pursue a separate deportation case during Shahien’s appeal in 2022, despite having received information regarding his nationality prior to the appeal judgment.

Shahien’s lawyer, Knud Foldschack, hailed the court’s decision as significantly important, emphasizing that authorities cannot retroactively question a citizenship held for over 30 years and then pursue deportation without proper precautions.

The case against Shahien began in 2019 after he purchased pistols, silencers, and cartridges from an undercover police agent at the Field’s shopping center in Amager. He was subsequently arrested and convicted of planning a terrorist act, receiving a 12-year prison sentence in 2022.

Initially, the prosecution considered the possibility of revoking Shahien’s Danish citizenship and deporting him. However, this option was dropped during the initial city court proceedings and was not raised during the appeal.

The court ruling revealed that Copenhagen Police received an “unofficial report” on February 18, 2022, indicating that Shahien had a birth certificate registered in Egypt. Despite this information, the prosecution did not raise the possibility of a future deportation case during Shahien’s high court conviction on December 14, 2022.

In 2023, Danish authorities received confirmation from Egypt that Shahien is an Egyptian citizen due to his father holding both Danish and Egyptian citizenship. This led to the conclusion that Shahien received Egyptian citizenship at birth and “is not and has never been a citizen of Denmark”. Subsequently, the prosecution initiated the deportation case that has now been dismissed.

A separate civil lawsuit is currently underway, in which Shahien is challenging the authorities’ 2023 decision that he was not a Danish citizen at birth. This case also involves several of Shahien’s family members, who, despite not being convicted of any crimes, have also lost their Danish citizenship based on the authorities’ revised assessment of their citizenship status. The prosecution retains the option to appeal the dismissal of the deportation case.