Shabir Ahmed tells tribunal his trial was ‘institutionally racist’ as he resists efforts to deport him to Pakistan

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The ringleader of a Rochdale child sex grooming gang cited human rights laws as he launched an appeal against deportation from Britain.

Shabir Ahmed, 63 – described by a judge as a “violent hypocritical bully” – has written to the European court of human rights (ECHR) claiming his convictions for child sex offences were a conspiracy to “scapegoat” Muslims.

Ahmed, serving 22 years in jail, was convicted in 2012 of being the ringleader of a group of Asian men who preyed on girls as young as 13 in Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

The girls were plied with drink and drugs before they were “passed around” for sex.

He appeared before an immigration tribunal, sitting at Manchester crown court, on Tuesday to appeal against the decision by home secretary Theresa May to strip him of his British citizenship, the first stage in the deportation process.

Three judges will decide on Ahmed’s appeal, as well as on appeals by three other men who were part of the same gang and who also face deportation.

Ahmed told the court: “She [Theresa May] says all her trouble is coming from Muslims, yet she’s the biggest trouble causer in the world.”

He said he was convicted by “11 white jurors”, adding: “It’s become fashionable to blame everything on Muslims these days.”

Vinesh Mandalia, representing the Home Office, told the tribunal May had exercised her right as home secretary to deprive Ahmed of British citizenship “if it is conducive to public good”.

Mandalia said Ahmed’s appeal against the deprivation of his British citizenship included an appeal to the ECHR against his criminal convictions.

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This second appeal had been acknowledged by the ECHR, but that did not mean the court would hear his case.

“He explains simply on human rights grounds the conviction is unsafe on the basis it was a conspiracy by everyone involved,” Mandalia said.

Ahmed’s appeal states his trial was tainted and a miscarriage of justice as it was “institutionally racist” and made Muslims into “scapegoats”.

Mandalia said: “The public interest weighs heavily in favour of the secretary of state, to ensure those granted the benefits of British citizenship, however that comes to arise, know the responsibilities that go with it.

“And if you get involved in very serious organised crime, then one of the consequences of that is that they will be deprived of their British citizenship.”

He said Ahmed, who first came to Britain in 1967 when aged 14, is a British citizen. But he would not be rendered stateless as he retains Pakistani nationality.

Three-times married Ahmed told the court he had four children living in the UK, had lived here for nearly 50 years and had £83,000 in a UK bank account.

Ahmed was given a 19-year sentence at Liverpool crown court in May 2012 for a string of child sex offences, including rape.

He was also jailed for 22 years, to run concurrently, in July 2012 for 30 rape offences against another victim.

Tribunal judge Michael Clements reserved his decision on Ahmed and the appeal of a second man, Qari Abdul Rauf.

Taxi driver Rauf, 47, was released on licence last year after serving half of a six-year sentence for trafficking a girl, aged 15, in the UK for sex, and for having sex with her himself.

A tearful Rauf, who also acted as a religious studies teacher at a mosque in Rochdale, asked through an Urdu interpreter for the tribunal to show him “mercy” and said he “wanted a second chance”.

Two more men convicted of child sex offences in the Rochdale case, Abdul Aziz and Adil Khan, are set to have their appeals heard in Manchester on Wednesday.