[4] Born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, United Kingdom, to parents of Pakistani descent, Khan's education included attendance at Haywood High School.

[5][6][7][8][3] A portion of his teenage years was spent in Pakistan,[9] where, prior to his December 2010 arrest, he visited the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, as noted in a 2013 report by the British Parliament's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.

[10][11] Khan's involvement with al-Muhajiroun,[12] militant network based in Saudi Arabia, led to his role as a community organiser, notably arranging a Sharia conference in 2009.

[3] In 2008, following a raid on his Stoke-on-Trent residence by counter-terrorist police,[13] Khan faced scrutiny but denied terrorist affiliations in interviews with the BBC and a local newspaper under a pseudonym.

The group also engaged in planning meetings and made preparations for travel related to terrorist activities, with intentions to carry out further attacks in the UK upon returning from the proposed camp in Kashmir.

[27] In 2012, he was sentenced to imprisonment for public protection and an indeterminate period in prison with a minimum term of eight years,[28][29][30] reflecting the judge’s assessment of Khan and his associates from Stoke-on-Trent as exceptionally committed jihadists operating at a level of seriousness and effectiveness above that of their co-defendants.

The Court of Appeal, led by Lord Justice Leveson, re-evaluated the perceived threat level of these individuals compared to their co-defendants, resulting in a reduced sentence of 16 years with eligibility for automatic release after eight.

[12][37] The terms of Khan's temporary release licence did not allow for travel to London; special permission would have been needed for him to participate in Cambridge University's Learning Together "Five Year Celebration" on the day he carried out the stabbing.

[51][20] Chris Phillips, former head of the UK National Counter Terrorism Security Office, commented the justice system was "playing Russian roulette" with the lives of the public.

Paul Gibson, former head of counter-terrorism at the UK Ministry of Defence, supported the criticism, commenting on the release: "A lot of people will find that extraordinary.