Even today, the Evening Standard reports, he is thought to maintain ties with Islamist circles. He lives with his wife and four children in Bochum, a city in western Germany. He must report to the local police station daily.
Sami A. was not deported to Tunisia after the denial of his asylum request because of fears that he might be tortured there. As the BBC explains, "Tunisia and its Arab neighbours are not on the list of safe countries of origin to which migrants can be deported."
At least three of the hijackers who flew planes into the twin towers of New York's World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, were members of an al-Qaeda cell based in Hamburg, Germany.
The news of Sami A.'s welfare payments was confirmed by the government of North Rhine-Westphalia state, after inquiries from the hard-right Alternative for Germany party.
AfD is staunchly opposed to immigration. In a news release, AfD decried the decision, writing, "What fate awaits Sami A. in Tunisia is not the problem of German taxpayers. To protect and financially equip an Islamist, to feed hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants while less and less remains for our own people is not acceptable, but it suits [Chancellor Angela] Merkel's [vision for] Germany."
