Four members of a child sex grooming gang who were jailed for grooming girls with drink and drugs have lost a legal battle to maintain British citizenship.
The Rochdale child sex abuse gang members are facing deportation after losing an appeal to remain in the UK.
Ringleader Shabir Ahmed, Adil Khan, Abdul Rauf and Abdul Aziz, all from Rochdale, challenged a government move that could pave the way for them to be deported to Pakistan. These four members were among nine gang members jailed in 2012 for exploiting girls as young as 13.
On Thursday (February 9, 2017), the Upper Tribunal of the Immigration and Asylum Chamber rejected their appeal.
Rochdale's MP called for the men, originally from Pakistan, to now be deported “as soon as possible”.
Simon Danczuk said: “We welcome many people coming to the UK to contribute, but if they break the law they should lose their right to live here. Foreign-born criminals should not be able to hide behind human rights laws to avoid deportation.”
Sixty-three-year-old ringleader Ahmed had previously claimed his convictions were a conspiracy to “scapegoat” Muslims.
The four men can apply for permission to appeal against the tribunal's decision.
Ahmed was convicted of two rapes, trafficking, conspiracy and sexual assault. While Ahmed remains in custody, the other three have been released on licence.
Khan, Rauf and Aziz were convicted of conspiracy and trafficking for sexual exploitation charges.
All the men had acquired British citizenship by naturalisation.
