Yesterday, it was announced that the notorious Rochdale grooming gang’s ringleader had won his fight against deportation to his native Pakistan.
Abdul Aziz, dubbed “The Master” by his fellow abusers, had his British citizenship revoked in 2018 after he attempted to stay in the country by utilizing the human rights laws.
Adil Khan, 52, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 53, other gang members, continue to battle attempts to extradite them to Pakistan, while Aziz’s whereabouts remain unknown.
The 51-year-old cab driver was found guilty of trafficking and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in 2012 and sentenced to nine years in prison. He drove victims to sex parties as far away as Leeds and Bradford.
To the fury of the activists, it was revealed yesterday that Aziz really won his battle to remain in the UK almost four years ago.
A lawyer for Rauf in his fight against deportation read aloud a letter she said former Home Secretary Sajid Javid wrote to Aziz on Halloween 2018 to tell the truth.
Aziz, Rauf, and Khan lost their fight to save their British citizenship at a hearing before the Court of Appeal on July 13, 2018, five days before it was discovered that Aziz had abandoned his Pakistani citizenship.
The letter said, “Therefore, the Home Secretary “has chosen not to make a deprivation order in respect of you,” indicating Aziz kept his British citizenship.
Last night, the Home Office was unable to refute the fact that Aziz was no longer in danger of deportation.
Aziz’s victims would be “horrified,” according to whistleblower Maggie Oliver, who resigned as a detective citing shortcomings in how the police handled grooming cases in Rochdale.
She told the Daily Mail, “All three of them should have been deported as soon as they were freed from prison.”
Instead, they received hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal aid to cover the costs of shrewd attorneys who work to uphold the inadmissible.
It’s only the most recent example of how our criminal justice system is flawed and how victims receive zero attention.
Victims have expressed their shock over and over again at the trio’s continued presence in the nation ten years after their incarceration. The trio have dual UK-Pakistani nationality.
One woman claimed that when she saw Khan shopping in her neighborhood Asda, “my heart just stopped beating.”
The Home Office responded to complaints about the delays by saying that “foreign criminals should be in no doubt about our intention to deport them.”
However, it refused to provide any information to Aziz Friday night, claiming that it didn’t “often comment on particular instances.”
Additionally, Khan and Rauf gave up their Pakistani citizenship.
The tribunal has been informed that these applications were approved two months after Aziz’s application.
Home Secretary Priti Patel’s attorneys contend that when Khan submitted his application, he misrepresented to the Pakistani government that he had been “assured” of British citizenship.
Therefore, the declaration can be “null and void.”
Rauf, who receives legal assistance, asserts that he didn’t sign the documents stripping him of his British citizenship until November 2018.
His attorney, who has been given permission by the court to remain anonymous, claims that the disparate treatment of Aziz and Rauf raises issues with “consistency of decision-making.”
The letter pertaining to Aziz’s case, according to Judge Charlotte Welsh’s decision from yesterday, was ‘irrelevant’ to the appeal.
Rauf and Khan contend that their right to a private and family life is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights and that deportation would violate that right.
In a prior statement to the tribunal, Khan argued that he shouldn’t be sent back to Pakistan because he serves as a “role model” for his teenage son and must instill in him a sense of “right from wrong.”
However, a lawyer for Miss Patel named Rory Dunlop, QC, claimed yesterday that because of Khan’s “vile” actions, a young boy would have “the worst conceivable role model.”
He continued that Rauf had not yet demonstrated any regret.
Their appeals will be decided on at a later time.