Shabana Mahmood vows legislation change to take away vile grooming gang chief Shabir Ahmed from UK
Shabana Mahmood has vowed to ‘work all avenues’ to deport vile grooming gang leader Shabir Ahmed – who has recently been removed from jail after serving 14 years for rape and sexual offences against girls, some as young as 12
The UK is locked in talks with Pakistan about deporting Shabir Ahmed(Image: PA)
Shabana Mahmood has vowed to “work all avenues” to deport a vile grooming gang leader – pledging to change the law to remove a key obstacle.
The Home Secretary is seeking to remove Shabir Ahmed, who was freed on July 2 after serving 14 years for rape and sexual offences against girls, some as young as 12. He had been sentenced to 19 years in prison in 2012.
Ms Mahmood told the Commons the Immigration and Asylum Bill, which is going through Parliament, will be amended to get rid of 55 year old legislation preventing criminals like Ahmed being removed from the UK. She said: “The government intends to bring forward an amendment to this bill 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 apply section seven of the Immigration Act 1971 for serious criminals. 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.”
However even if the law is changed, the UK would be powerless unless Pakistan agrees to take him back. So far Islamabad has indicated it is not prepared to do so.
Ms Mahmood said: “It is important to note this does not guarantee his removal from this country. Those opposite (the Tories) know all too well from their own experience. But the Foreign Secretary (Yvette Cooper) and I will 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.”
Ahmed cannot be removed because of a 1971 law, Section 7 of the Immigration Act, which forbids the removal of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago. Earlier justice minister Catherine Atkinson pointed out that the threat of visa restrictions had been effective in the past.
She told the BBC : “I think we’ve been clear that all options remain on the table where countries don’t co-operate on the return of their nationals.” She said the Home Secretary “has been absolutely clear that this Government will take action to see Shabir Ahmed removed, and we’ve seen the success that she has had when it comes to removals in previous cases”.
“I think she threatened visa penalties for Angola, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless they took back illegal immigrants,” she said. “And four months later, all three were co-operating.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman acknowledged that changing the law was only the first step in deporting Ahmed. The spokesman said: “The country of origin must agree to take these vile criminals back and that’s why we’re working across government to explore every option in this case.”
The Pakistani government is reportedly demanding the extradition of two political dissidents from the UK in order to do so.
