Crime08 July, 20262 min read
Britain Closes Loophole To Deport Rochdale Grooming Gang Leader Shabir Ahmed To Pakistan
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UK to amend 1971 immigration law to deport Shabir Ahmed to Pakistan. Shabir Ahmed, Rochdale grooming gang leader, convicted of multiple child sex offences.
Deportation Loophole Closed
The British government said on Monday it would close a legal loophole in efforts to deport to Pakistan Shabir Ahmed, a man who served 14 years in prison for being a leading perpetrator of the "grooming gangs" scandal. Interior minister Shabana Mahmood referred to Ahmed as a "vile grooming gang leader" and said the amendment would let Commonwealth citizens be deported if they have committed serious crimes.
Reuters said Ahmed was a gang leader in Rochdale, northern England, jailed in 2012 for multiple counts of child sexual offences including rape, and that his release earlier this month was criticised by some lawmakers and one of the gang's victims. The Reuters report said Ahmed was stripped of his British citizenship but could not be removed to Pakistan because of a legal loophole preventing deportation of citizens of some countries who arrived in the UK before 1973, and that his removal depended on Pakistan agreeing to take him.
Pakistan Refuses Return
LBC said the Home Secretary was due to set out changes to the law to allow for the deportation of Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed, but it was understood that Pakistan was unlikely to take him back. LBC quoted Sir Keir Starmer’s official spokesman saying, "Any removal requires co-operation from another country to accept an individual back."
BBC said Mahmood announced plans to change the law to help deport the freed ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang, adding that Ahmed cannot be deported due to a 1971 law forbidding removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago. The BBC report said the Home Office told it Ahmed's removal depends on Pakistan accepting him, and that at the moment it appears Pakistan has no intention of accepting Ahmed, who claims to have renounced his Pakistani citizenship.
Visa Threats and Next Steps
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, urged Mahmood on Thursday to instead introduce emergency legislation in September following parliamentary recess, which he said would see a law change "in a matter of weeks". BBC also quoted Philp on BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "If they don't take him back, we can say: well, we're simply going to stop or restrict issuing visas to people from Pakistan to come here."
BBC said Mahmood told MPs the 1971 Act provided protections for long-term UK residents but "should not be used as a bar against removal in cases like that of Shabir Ahmed," and that the amendment would be tabled under the government's Immigration and Asylum Bill. The BBC report added that victims minister Catherine Atkinson said Mahmood had a strong track record of removals, citing examples where visa sanctions were threatened and then countries co-operated with returns, while the government continued to "explore all avenues to pursue a deportation".