Iraqi national sentenced for illegal yacht crossing to UK

An Iraqi national has been sentenced today for breaching UK immigration laws by arriving on a yacht from France.

Rasty Hassan, 27, was prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for attempting to arrive in the UK without entry clearance in September last year. The 26-foot yacht he was on was intercepted off the coast of Brixham in south west England.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and also to conspiring to facilitate the breach of UK immigration law by non-UK nationals as there were other people onboard the yacht, including a 10-month-old baby, the baby’s parents and three siblings. The family were Iraqi nationals.

Today, Hassan was sentenced to two years in prison suspended for two years at Plymouth Crown Court.

In March this year Mohamed Bedah, a 39-year-old Palestinian national, who was also on board was found guilty after trial of attempting to arrive in the UK without entry clearance and jailed for eight months.

The men were prosecuted by CPS South West. Hassan first came to the UK unlawfully in 2017.  His claims and appeals for asylum had been rejected before he absconded. Bedah made six applications for a UK visa which were denied between January and August 2023, before his unlawful entry in the yacht.

Stella Waata from the CPS said:

“Neither of these men had a right to live or work in the UK.  That had been made clear to them repeatedly by UK authorities, so they chose to come illegally.

“Aboard the yacht was a family with a 10-month-old baby which shows just how reckless they were. Thanks to our close working with the Home Office and Avon and Somerset Police we secured their convictions.”

The Brixham lifeguard launched a rescue mission on 17 September 2024 after receiving a distress call from the yacht due to a mechanical issue. But the men would not let lifeguards board the vessel, so it had to be towed nine miles to Brixham Marina where they were arrested.