Some of his victims said they were "frightened"
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to outline the legal steps the government will take to deport a convicted Rochdale grooming gang ringleader who was released from prison earlier this month.
Shabir Ahmed was jailed for 22 years in 2012 after being convicted of multiple child sexual offences, including rape. He was released on licence earlier in July after serving part of his sentence.
Calls for Ahmed’s deportation have intensified across the political spectrum.
Although he was stripped of his British citizenship following his conviction, he cannot currently be removed from the UK because of protections contained in the Immigration Act 1971.
The government has confirmed Mahmood will announce the legal measures she intends to take to address the issue. However, it has not revealed how the law will be changed or how long the process could take.
Ahmed was one of nine men from Rochdale and Oldham convicted of sexually exploiting girls as young as 13 at two takeaway restaurants.
Following his release, he was placed in 24-hour staffed accommodation and fitted with a GPS electronic monitoring tag. The government has said he will be returned to prison if he breaches any of his strict licence conditions.
Some of his victims said they were “frightened” and felt “unsafe” following his release.
Ahmed cannot currently be deported because the Immigration Act 1971 prevents the removal of Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK before 1973 and had lived in the country for at least five years.
Despite losing his British citizenship after his conviction, Ahmed remains exempt from deportation under those provisions.
It is not yet known how the government intends to amend the legislation.
One government source previously suggested changing the law could take up to a year.
Pakistan has also emerged as a potential obstacle. The country is reportedly unwilling to accept Ahmed, who claims he has renounced his Pakistani citizenship.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the UK should consider imposing visa restrictions if Pakistan refuses to accept him.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
“If they don’t take him back, we can say: well, we’re simply going to stop or restrict issuing visas to people from Pakistan to come here.
“That, by the way, should apply to any country around the world who doesn’t take back its own citizens who are criminals or here illegally.”
The Conservatives have called for emergency legislation or an amendment to the Immigration Bill currently progressing through Parliament. They argue waiting to amend the 1971 Act would take too long.
Philp said emergency legislation could see a law change “in a matter of weeks”.
Victims Minister Catherine Atkinson said the government had not ruled out using emergency legislation.
She said:
“They haven’t ruled anything out because they are absolutely determined to get this done.”
Asked how ministers would address Ahmed’s claim that he had renounced his Pakistani citizenship, Atkinson pointed to Mahmood’s previous success in securing deportation agreements through diplomatic pressure:
“She threatened visa penalties for Angola, Namibia and Democratic Republic of Congo unless they took back illegal immigrants and four months later all three were co-operating, with flights off the ground.
“They were previous negotiations where countries refused to take back foreign national offenders and Shabana was able to secure those returns.”
Last week, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said ministers were continuing to examine every possible option.
The spokesperson said:
“We are exploring every available option in this case, and that includes talking to the Pakistani authorities.”
Mahmood’s expected announcement comes less than a week after grooming gang survivors called for convicted sex offenders to be excluded from early release schemes.
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