Muslim Rape Gang Ringleader Released From Prison

The Pakistani Muslim ringleader of a grooming gang targeting young girls in the United Kingdom has been released from prison eight years early. 

Shabir Ahmed was sentenced to 22 years in prison after his 2012 conviction for multiple rape and sexual offenses against girls as young as 13. Outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer requested that the British government look into deporting Ahmed immediately. 

Sara Rowbotham, a former National Health Service worker who helped uncover Ahmed’s crimes, said his release comes far too soon.

“He was able to coerce, manipulate, and organize a highly manipulative group of men, and when in court he was volatile in court and towards the judge. There have been no indications that his views have changed,” Rowbotham said.

“The de-investment in probation services means that any monitoring of him and his behavior is likely to be really weak. Who is going to make sure he and maybe others do not seek revenge?” she added.

Ahmed reportedly gave his victims alcohol and drugs and gang-raped them in rooms with other men primarily from Pakistani Muslim backgrounds. Most of the victims were white girls from working class families, The Telegraph reported.

Gerald Clifton, the judge overseeing Ahmed’s case, said his victims were treated “as though they were worthless and beyond any respect” because they were not Pakistani Muslims. Ahmed’s defense focused on labeling the children “prostitutes” and argued that Judge Clifton was “racist.” More than 60 men were convicted in relation to Ahmed’s grooming gang in Rochdale, England. 

The Home Office, the U.K. government’s lead department for policing, border security, and immigration, called Ahmed’s crimes “appalling” and said he would be supervised 24/7 while wearing an electronically monitored GPS tag. 

“His every movement will be tracked, and forced to wear an electronic tag. He will rightly be on the sex offenders register for life, ordered to stay away from his victims and banned from contacting any child or young person,” said a spokeswoman familiar with the matter. 

A letter sent to one of Ahmed’s victims revealed that the government does not currently have plans to deport Ahmed back to Pakistan due to the 1971 Immigration Act. The act says immigrants who arrived in Britain before 1973 and lived in the country for more than five years cannot be deported. 

A victim, who did not want to be publicly named, told the BBC that she was “scared for my safety and my kids’ safety.” She added, “The main ringleader is getting out of prison, who is well known in Rochdale, Oldham, and Middleton, so even if he’s not in that area, he still knows people and has a chance to talk to people from that area and that makes me unsafe.”