Victim of paedophile imam who fled overseas ‘failed by police’
A WOMAN who was sexually abused by a Muslim preacher has accused police of failing her after it was disclosed that her attacker remains at large two years after fleeing Britain.
Imam Hafiz Rahman was convicted of sexually abusing two young girls under the age of 10 in the Eighties but fled to Bangladesh using a fake passport before he was sentenced.
Two years later the predatory preacher is still free, despite British authorities knowing his whereabouts.
Rahman carried out daily sex attacks against a seven-year-old girl during a four-year period in the Eighties when he was teaching at a mosque in the West Midlands. He only came to the attention of police three decades later when the victim, whom The Sunday Telegraph is calling Nabila, came forward.
Nabila criticised West Midlands Police for failing to update her. “I deserve to be told what is going on,” she said. “It
Flying visit
would be complete closure for me for him to be extradited. I am still in limbo. I can’t really move on.
“I just have to block it out. I have my little girl who keeps me quite busy but I really hope one day I get justice so I can move on from this.”
The force was granted permission in December to extradite Rahman to the UK but the case has been delayed.
“I spoke to the detective on the case just before last Christmas,” Nabila added. “She said the week previously they had been to court and successfully got the papers to extradite him. They had a location for him in Bangladesh. But now we are 10 months on and I haven’t heard anything from them.” Rahman taught religious studies at Queens Cross mosque in Cradley Heath in the West Midlands.
It was there that Nabila, aged seven, first encountered the imam described as “arrogant and untouchable”.
“I didn’t understand what he was doing to me but I knew I didn’t like it. It all started with him singling me out and isolating me from my classmates,” she said.
Rahman would take her to his office at the mosque and sexually assault her almost daily until she was 11.
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “We understand that this is a distressing time for the victim; we continue to keep her updated on the progress of the investigation.We remain in liaison with Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in respect of Hafiz Rahman’s extradition.”
A CPS spokesman said it was “not able to comment as matters are ongoing”. The Home Office said it would not comment on extraditions.
‘It would be complete closure for me for him to be extradited. I am still in limbo. I can’t really move on’