Thrown out, asylum bid by Libyan soldiers jailed for sex attacks

THREE Libyan soldiers who applied for asylum after being jailed for a string of sex attacks on British women have had their ‘insulting’ applications rejected.

In a victory for common sense, the men – who were being trained here to help bring peace to their home country – have now been kicked out of the UK.

There was outrage last September when it emerged that Khaled El Azibi, 19 at the time, Ibrahim Naji El Maarfi, 21, and Mohammed Abdalsalam, 28, were seeking sanctuary despite their ‘despicable’ attacks.

The drunken trio were convicted of a sex rampage in Cambridge on October 26, 2014. They had roamed the streets looking for victims and assaulted three women in the space of an hour. They groped the terri

El Maarfi and Abdalsalam were fied women, attempted to put refused asylum and had been their hands up their skirts and removed from the country. exposed themselves. They had been held in detention

They had absconded from Basscentres while their cases were ingbourn Barracks in Cambridgebeing considered. shire, where they were among a Speaking at the time that their contingent of 300 Libyan soldiers asylum applications were lodged, under training, before carrying out one of their three victims said the attacks. They received senshe was angered by their ‘arrotences of between 10 and 12 months gance to apply after committing but sought asylum after fearing despicable crimes’. persecution in their home country The woman, who comes from because of the shame of their Cambridge, said seeing her attackcrimes in Britain. ers’ faces again had ‘brought what

Yesterday, however, the Home happened flooding back’. ‘ They Office confirmed that El Azibi, subjected me to a horrible, intimi- dating sexual assault which I will never be able to forget,’ she said.

‘It is not only an insult to me and the other women they attacked but an insult to all those people who genuinely need asylum here.’ MPs were outraged at the farcical situation and said it strengthened the case for scrapping the Human Rights Act. The first deployment of Libyan soldiers arrived at Bassingbourn in June 2014 and were meant to be the vanguard of 2,000 to be trained by British troops to support the new Libyan government.

They had been hand-picked as the best candidates to learn how to improve security in their chaotic home country. The training programme was approved despite warnings from Whitehall officials that recreational visits would ‘pose significant immigration, security and reputational risks’.

However, following the October attacks on woman and the rape of a man, in his 20s, by another two soldiers stationed at the barracks – Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud and Ibrahim Abugtila – the scheme was scrapped in November 2014.

Mahmoud and Abugtila – who were aged 33 and 23 respectively at the time – are serving 12-year jail terms for the attack, which happened in Cambridge on the same night as the women were assaulted.

Referring to El Azibi, El Maarfi and Abdalsalam, a spokesman for the Home Office said: ‘They have been removed from the country.’

‘Despicable crimes’