A FAILED Iraqi asylum seeker has been caged for life for raping and slaying a 14-year-old girl whose body was found in a shallow grave.

The jailing of Ali Bashar, 22, comes after the murder of Susanna Maria Feldman sparked protests in Germany, and was used by far right activists to claim a link between crime and a record influx of migrants.

8 Iraqi Ali Bashar fled the country after the body of Susanna Maria Feldman was found in a shallow grave in Germany Credit: Central European News

8 Susanna Feldman, 14, from Mainz in Germany, was missing for days before her body was found Credit: Central European News

Judge Juergen Bonk told Bashar he'd shown no real regret or guilty conscience throughout the trial.

Telling him he'd carried out a "cold-blooded murder", the judge found the girl's rape and slaying was of exceptional severity.

He is unlikely to be granted parole after 15 years.

Bashar arrived in Germany with his parents and five siblings at the height of the 2015 refugee and migrant crisis and was known to police for violent conduct before he raped and murdered Susanna.

He faced deportation after his request for asylum was rejected.

Prosecutors said he fled back to Iraq after raping and strangling the teenager on May 23, 2018.

Susanna's body was found in a shallow grave two weeks later, on June 6, covered with leaves, twigs and dirt, near her hometown of Mainz.

Her killer had sent false messages from her mobile phone, in a ploy to make others think she'd left Germany for a trip to Paris.

'DON'T LOOK FOR ME'

The girl's worried mum, Diana, received a WhatsApp message saying: "Mama, I'm not coming home.

"I'm with a friend in Paris. Don't look for me. I'll be back in two or three weeks. Bye."

Susanna's distraught mum accused cops of doing nothing for five days after reporting the teen was missing.

Bashar was arrested by Kurdish security forces and extradited to Germany by Iraqi authorities a month after her murder.

He admitted in court in Wiesbaden that he strangled the schoolgirl, but claimed that he had no idea how her death occurred.

Bashar had denied raping Susanna, and claimed that they'd had consensual sex.

He told the court: "Everything went black before my eyes, then it all happened. I don't know how it could have happened."

Susanna's mum had earlier addressed him in court, saying: "I have already received life imprisonment, although I am not guilty.

"I'll never get the chance for a reprieve."

Bashar had also allegedly raped an 11-year-old girl twice - once last April and again the following month.

Prosecutors in Germany also laid sex charges against an Afghan youth who was being housed in the same refugee shelter as Bashar.

That suspect - named as Mansoor Q and believed to be aged 14 or 15 at the time - is accused of raping the same 11-year-old girl, reports the Mail Online.

Bashar's younger brother, reportedly still in Iraq, is also accused of taking part in a violent sexual assault against the young girl.

8 Ali Bashar covers his face in front of the cameras upon entering the courtroom, on July 10, 2019 in Wiesbaden, western Germany Credit: (c) dpa-POOL

Bashar's murder case caused outrage last year, as shocked Germans debated Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision to welcome almost one million asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa.

It also sparked vigils and demonstrations, including in Mainz, attended by several hundred people.

The Mainz demo had anti-Merkel protesters on one side - who were accused in a counter protest of racism after alleging links between crime and foreigners.

Anti-immigrant party Alternative for Germany (AfD) politicians were accused of using the murder case for their own political ends, reports the BBC.

The backlash over the "Susanna case" - as it became known - prompted Angela Merkel to speed up of deportations of asylum-seeking criminals.

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It was one of several high-profile crimes involving asylum seekers such as Bashar to have stoked fury against refugees and migrants in Germany.

At least six were injured in ugly scenes on the streets of Chemnitz as an angry mob waved placards reading "stop the refugee flood" while yelling Nazi slogans on August 28 last year.

Tensions were at boiling point in the German city after a carpenter, Daniel Hillig, 35, was reportedly knifed by “foreigners”.

The protesters lit flares, held up flags supporting neo-Nazi NPD parties and chanted historic phrases associated with Adolf Hitler's supporters including Luegenpresse, meaning "lying press".

8 Ali Bashar was returned to Germany after he was found in Iraqi Kurdistan Credit: AFP

8 Cops found Susanna's body in thick vegetation beside a railway line Credit: Central European News

8 The victim's mum, Diana, arrives at the trial against Ali Bashar on July 10, 2019 at the court in Wiesbaden, western Germany Credit: (c) dpa-POOL

8 People hold German flags as they take part in a march of silence organised by the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party Credit: Getty Images - Getty