Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will set out on Monday the legal steps she will take to deport Shabir Ahmed, the freed ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang who was released from prison on licence earlier this month after serving 22 years for multiple counts of child sexual offences.
Ahmed, jailed in 2012 for exploiting girls as young as 13 at two takeaway restaurants, was stripped of his British citizenship following his conviction, leaving him with only Pakistani nationality. But a 1971 law — the Immigration Act — forbids the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago, preventing his deportation.
“Home secretary to set out legal steps to deport freed Rochdale grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed.”
It is not yet clear how Mahmood will change the law. One government source previously suggested it could take up to a year. Meanwhile, Pakistan has no intention of accepting Ahmed, who claims to have renounced his Pakistani citizenship.
After his release, Ahmed was sent to 24-hour staffed accommodation and fitted with a GPS electronically monitored tag. If he breaches strict licence conditions, the government has said he will be returned to prison. Some of his victims said they were "frightened" and felt "unsafe" at his release.
Dr Farzana Shaikh, an expert on Pakistan at Chatham House, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that back-channel negotiations are fraught, pointing to a diplomatic crisis. She said Pakistan is unofficially seeking the extradition of a former cabinet minister and adviser to ex-prime minister Imran Khan, and a retired army major. "Officially Pakistan's position is that it will not take back Shabir Ahmed under any circumstances, and that Britain's attempts to force Pakistan to do so smacks of colonial arrogance and a colonial mindset," she added.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp suggested sanctions could be imposed on Pakistan if it refuses to accept Ahmed. "If they don't take him back, we can say: well, w…" he began, before the source text cut off. The question remains: how will Mahmood overcome the legal block and diplomatic impasse to deport the man whose victims still live in fear?
