The revelation comes amid growing scrutiny of the backgrounds and political sympathies of those employed by Britain’s publicly funded institutions, as pro-Palestinian activism has become increasingly influential.
Hicham Yezza, the BBC’s Principal Data Scientist for Responsible AI, was sentenced to nine months in prison in 2009 after falsely claiming he had permission to remain in Britain. His visa had expired in 2003, but he continued living in the country as an illegal immigrant for more than five years, subsequently deceiving immigration authorities about his status. The sentencing judge described Yezza’s actions as a deliberate and prolonged manipulation of Britain’s immigration controls.
Despite his criminal history, Yezza avoided deportation, successfully appealed against removal in 2010, and subsequently obtained British citizenship. He joined BBC Monitoring in 2021 before assuming his current AI position in July 2025. The broadcaster now employs him to help determine how AI systems should handle news and information, including the development of benchmarks for assessing AI performance in public-service media....<<<Read More>>>....
