Highlights
- Ministers urged to change law blocking removal of convicted child sex offender to Pakistan
- MPs are calling for changes to a legal loophole in the Immigration Act 1971 that protects some long-term Commonwealth citizens from removal
- Ahmed will remain under strict licence conditions, including electronic tagging, curfews and exclusion zones
THE government is facing renewed calls to change immigration law after it emerged that a convicted Rochdale child sexual abuse gang leader cannot be deported to Pakistan despite having his British citizenship removed.
According to The Telegraph, 73-year-old Shabir Ahmed, who was jailed in 2012 for 22 years after being convicted of 30 child rape and other sexual offences, is due to be released from prison on Thursday (2). However, he cannot currently be removed from the UK because of a provision in the Immigration Act 1971.
Ahmed, a Pakistani national who arrived in Britain before 1973, is protected by a legal exemption that prevents the deportation of certain Commonwealth citizens who settled in the UK before that date.
The Conservative Party said it would seek to change the law by tabling an amendment to the government's Immigration and Asylum Bill.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "This vile rapist must be urgently deported along with other perpetrators with foreign nationalities."
He added that "the law must be urgently changed" so that people convicted of gang-raping young girls can be deported "no matter when they entered the country".
Paul Waugh, the Labour MP for Rochdale, also called for Ahmed's removal, saying: "The vile paedophile should be deported to Pakistan and not allowed anywhere near those he so wickedly abused."
Shabir Ahmed Met Police
Waugh said he and fellow Labour MP Jim McMahon had met justice secretary Jake Richards to press for "the closure of the loophole in the 1971 Immigration Act" that prevents Ahmed's deportation.
He added that they had urged ministers to ensure Ahmed is banned from entering Rochdale and neighbouring Oldham after his release.
Rochdale scandal
Ahmed was one of nine men convicted at Liverpool Crown Court over the Rochdale child sexual abuse scandal. The court heard that, over a two-year period beginning in 2008, girls as young as 12 were groomed with alcohol and drugs before being repeatedly raped in rooms above takeaway shops and in flats across the town.
The court was also told that Ahmed abused one victim for more than a decade, treating her as his "possession" and sexually abusing her almost every week.
Known to some of his victims as "Daddy", Ahmed received concurrent prison sentences of 22 and 19 years. During his trial, he insulted the judge and later challenged his conviction at the European Court of Human Rights, claiming he had not received a fair trial.
Ahmed held dual British and Pakistani citizenship until 2016, when his British citizenship was revoked. The Telegraph reported that while he cannot be deported under the current law, he would not be allowed to re-enter the UK if he left voluntarily.
A Home Office spokesperson said Ahmed will remain on the sex offenders register for life after his release. He has also been ordered to stay away from his victims and is banned from contacting children or young people.
The spokesperson added that he will face "strict curfews and restriction zones", have his movements monitored with an electronic tag and be returned to prison immediately if he breaches his licence conditions.
