An imam has been sacked after he was found guilty of molesting a woman twice.
Hafiz Abbasi, 32, was given a 12-month community order after he was found guilty of sexual assault during a trial at Manchester and Salford Magistrates’ Court.
Abbasi, who was suspended from his post as an imam at the Minhaj-ul-Qur’an Central Mosque in Whalley Range, has now been sacked.
Speaking on behalf of the mosque’s trustees, Moazzam Raza said: “Minhaj-ul-Quran has very stringent policies relating to such cases and we take each case seriously. As soon as we received a complaint relating to Mr Abbasi and came to know of pending court proceedings we immediately set-up an internal investigation team.
“Understanding the nature of complaint and case, the investigation team decided to immediately suspend Mr Abbasi pending the court case.
"Now that Mr Abbasi has been found guilty and sentence has been issued, we have immediately dismissed him from any employment with Minhaj-ul-Quran.”
He added that the mosque had rigorous safeguarding procedures.
The court heard that the offences related to incidents in October 21 and 29 last year when Abbasi touched the woman’s buttocks on each occasion.
