Change law to kick out Rochdale rapist, No 10 urged

[Twiglets1]

Reported in The Telegraph that Labour is facing mounting pressure to change immigration laws immediately so that a child rapist freed from jail can be deported.

Shabir Ahmed, 73, was sentenced to more than 20 years in jail after being convicted of 30 child rape offences as part of the Rochdale grooming gang.

But on Thursday, the Pakistan-born rapist was released after serving 14 years.

Britain stripped him of his citizenship, but cannot currently deport him because of protections granted to Commonwealth immigrants such as Ahmed under the Immigration Act 1971.

On Thursday, Downing Street said the Prime Minister had asked Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, to “consider what can be done” to deport Ahmed, describing his case as “particularly heinous”.

It comes after Andy Burnham, expected to succeed Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister, also vowed to “review all options” to deport the "vile criminal".

The amendment to Ms Mahmood’s immigration bill will propose rewriting the 1971 act to permit the removal of serious criminals such as Ahmed.

However, even if an amendment were to pass, two senior Pakistani government officials told The Telegraph that the country would not accept Ahmed back because he renounced his Pakistani citizenship “several decades ago”.

They added that he posed a danger to Pakistani children.

If their claim is correct, it places Ahmed in the same situation as two other freed Pakistani ringleaders of the Rochdale grooming gang whom Pakistan has refused to take back.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/07/02/deport-foreign-born-child-rapists-demand-labour-mps/

and the first real sign I have seen that this govt (or any other) gives a toss about the safety of women and girls.

More like the first time they've realised that seeming to want to protect women and girls while at the same time throwing an immigrant out of the country with a great fanfare will be a massive vote winner in multiple sectors of the voting public.

I seriously doubt that many on the left in politics believe that throwing out a man who's lived in this country 53 years to a country with even more vulnerable women and children which doesn't want him is the correct thing to do.

@Twiglets1 People live on the same street as all sorts of awful people. Ones who haven’t been caught for example! I don’t know if the sentencing guidelines have been altered in the intervening 14 years but people are clutching at straws if they think Pakistan is taking him back. We have imported these problems so it’s our problem.

It remains to be seen whether Pakistan will take him back. As I understand it, negotiations are still taking place and Pakistan is demanding something in return - namely the extradition of political dissidents from the UK.

The government is closing the legal loophole that would previously have prevented his deportation.

Referring to Ahmed as a "vile grooming gang leader", Shabana Mahmood said the government's amendment would now let Commonwealth citizens be deported if they have committed serious crimes. While acknowledging that Ahmed's removal was dependent on Pakistan agreeing to take him.