House of Commons (PTI file photo) (Representative image)
The UK government has started the process of changing a law that has so far prevented the deportation of convicted grooming gang ringleader Shabir Ahmed to Pakistan.Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced in Parliament on Monday that the government will amend the Immigration Act 1971 to remove legal protection for serious criminals such as Ahmed.Ahmed, who was jailed in 2012 for multiple rape and sexual offences against young girls, was recently released after serving his prison sentence. His case sparked widespread criticism after it emerged that he could not be deported because of a 1971 law that protects some Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973.Ahmed was the leader of a gang of nine men who groomed and sexually abused teenage girls. The group reportedly gained the trust of victims by offering takeaway food and cigarettes before giving them alcohol and sexually assaulting them.Speaking in the House of Commons, Mahmood said she was acting in response to the widely reported case of the “vile grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed”.“Our amendment will provide the Home Secretary with a new power to disapply Section 7 of the Immigration Act 1971 for serious criminals,” Mahmood told MPs.“This provides protections for long-term UK residents but, clearly, should not be acting as a bar against removal in cases like that of Shabir Ahmed. “The threshold for this power would be tied to the power to deprive citizenship, which applies only in cases of exceptional severity,” she said.Mahmood, whose family has South Asian roots, acknowledged that changing the law alone would not ensure Ahmed’s deportation.According to reports, Pakistan has refused to accept Ahmed, and discussions between the two countries have reportedly included linking his return to the extradition of Pakistani dissidents living in Britain.“It is important to note this does not guarantee his removal from this country. As those opposite [Conservative Party] know all too well from their own experience,” Mahmood said in Parliament.“The foreign secretary [Yvette Cooper] and I continue to work all avenues to pursue a deportation. I know the thoughts of everyone here are with the victims and survivors of this vile criminal,” she said.The proposed amendment is part of the wider Immigration and Asylum Bill, which the government says is aimed at making the asylum system fairer for genuine refugees while speeding up the removal of people who are in the country illegally.Ahmed is currently living in monitored accommodation and is being tracked with a GPS tag following his release from prison.The proposal to deport him has received support from across political parties.The opposition Conservative Party has called for quicker action against what it described as a “vile gang rapist who should be deported back to Pakistan”.“I would only ask the home secretary not to do that by amending this Bill, which will probably take a year or so to reach the statute book. I hope that she will consider doing it instead through emergency legislation in September, which could be completed in a couple of weeks,” shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said in Parliament.Other MPs also urged the government to fast-track action against what they described as an “evil and abhorrent” criminal whose abuse of young girls in Oldham and Rochdale shocked communities across northern England.“The fact is this: he has already been stripped of his British citizenship. He has no right to be here, bar the loophole in the Immigration Act 1971 that will now be closed thanks to the actions of our Home Secretary,” said Oldham MP Jim McMahon.“I know that this is just the start, and that even once the law is changed, Pakistan may still say that it will refuse to take back this man. Whatever diplomatic barriers exist must be challenged, and every possible avenue must be explored,” demanded Rochdale MP Paul Waugh.Andy Burnham, who is expected to succeed Keir Starmer as Britain’s next Prime Minister, has also backed Ahmed’s deportation. Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, has been among the strongest voices calling for action.“Like everyone, I want this vile criminal out of the country. Victims must come first. I will ask the Home and Foreign Secretaries to review all possible options – and they should consider nothing is off the table,” he said recently.Ahmed, 73, holds both British and Pakistani citizenship and was known as “Daddy” by his victims during the trial. He was stripped of his British citizenship when he was sentenced to 22 years in prison.However, a letter from the Probation Service informing victims about his release revealed that under the Immigration Act 1971, Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 and had lived there for at least five years cannot be deported.According to reports, the British government is also trying to deport two other convicted gang members, Qari Abdul Rauf and Adil Khan, who were stripped of their British citizenship in 2022. Both men have challenged their deportation by relying on the European Convention on Human Rights provision protecting the right to family life.Mahmood’s bill also includes measures to tighten the use of such appeals by convicted criminals seeking to block their deportation.
