Umar Haque

Introduction

Umar Haque is a former Maktab class, Physical Education class and General Supervision Teacher at The Lantern of Knowledge School in London, employed from around July 2015 to 11 January 2016. While teaching there he exposed young pupils to Islamic State propaganda — including videos of fighters with guns, burning passports and beheadings — and discouraged them from telling anyone what he had shown them. He was later convicted of terrorism offences and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years, and in June 2023 a Teaching Regulation Agency panel found every allegation against him proved, leading to an indefinite ban from teaching with no review.

Background Information

Haque worked at The Lantern of Knowledge School as a Maktab class, Physical Education class and General Supervision Teacher from around July 2015 until 11 January 2016. The pupils he taught were children aged roughly 9 to 16. During the police investigation and criminal trial that followed, evidence was gathered showing that, in this teaching role, he had intentionally exposed his pupils to extremist material to inculcate them with the ideology of Islamic State. It is thought he had contact with upwards of 220 children during this time; fifty-five children, aged between 11 and 14, were identified as having been exposed to extremism and attempts at radicalisation.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Showing Islamic State videos to pupils. A TRA panel found that Haque’s classroom exposure of pupils to Islamic State propaganda, alongside his terrorism convictions, amounted to unacceptable professional conduct, conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute and a relevant conviction.

Child witnesses interviewed by Counter Terrorism Command officers described lessons in which Haque spoke about ISIS and terrorism incidents roughly once or twice a week, showed YouTube videos on a projector — one beginning with four or five people with guns and ammunition and the burning of red passports, and showing “people having found someone and chopping his head off with a knife or sword” — and displayed a black flag he said he had at home. When a pupil shouted that someone was coming, he turned the video off and told the class not to tell anyone he had shown it; one pupil would stand by the door as a lookout. The panel found the children had only given statements once the police investigation began, which it said demonstrated he was successful in discouraging pupils from disclosing what they had been shown.

Haque denied the allegations, attended only the first day of the three-day virtual hearing in June 2023, and stayed away — unrepresented — for the rest. The panel found allegations 1(a), 1(b), 1(c) and 1(d) proved, found the concealment element dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people, and found that his conduct demonstrated a lack of tolerance and/or hatred on the grounds of race/religion and/or undermined fundamental British values. It also noted his own hearing comments that he had shown the content so pupils could “see both sides”. Separately, the panel accepted his criminal convictions as conclusive proof: on 15 January 2018, on the first day of trial at the Central Criminal Court, he was convicted on his guilty pleas of disseminating a terrorist publication and four counts of collecting information useful to terrorism, and on 2 March 2018 a jury convicted him of engaging in conduct in preparation for terrorist acts and of preparatory acts intending to assist others to commit acts of terrorism, including leading physical exercises and role play at Ripple Road Mosque.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The panel found there was a strong public interest in protecting pupils and the public, maintaining confidence in the profession and upholding proper standards, given what it called obvious and significant public and child protection concerns. It noted that some children had been scared during the lessons and reported having flashbacks, that Haque had received Safeguarding Awareness Training on 11 May 2015, and that his actions were calculated and motivated rather than carried out under duress. It also recorded evidence from Haque confirming that “it does not bother me an inch that the Teaching Regulation Agency seek to impose upon me a lifetime ban from teaching for indeed I will merely be re-employed by The Islamic Caliphate (The Islamic State) in the future…”, finding a high risk he would repeat the behaviour, and it recommended a prohibition order with immediate effect and no review period. On 2 March 2018 he had been sentenced to life imprisonment to serve a minimum of 25 years.

Current Status

On 27 June 2023 Marc Cavey, deciding on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, confirmed that Mr Haque is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. The order contains no provision for a review period, so there is no date at which he may ask for it to be reconsidered, and the decision maker further decided that Mr Haque shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach. The order took effect from the date it was served on him, and he had a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days. The panel’s findings of unacceptable professional conduct, disrepute and a relevant conviction remain published.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The prohibition order permanently ends whatever remained of Haque’s teaching career: the ban covers every school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation and children’s home in England, and because there is no review period and no entitlement to apply for restoration, there is no route back to the profession at any point. It sits alongside the criminal consequences of his terrorism case — a life sentence with a minimum term of 25 years imposed at the Central Criminal Court — which keeps him in prison regardless of the ban. The panel found he abused a position of trust and deliberately averted the primary concern of keeping children safe, and it found no evidence attesting to his history or ability as a teacher to weigh against the public interest.

Sources

• GOV.UK, “Mr Umar Haque: Professional conduct panel outcome” — source