Former Labour peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham faces charges of buggery of a boy under 11, the indecent assault of a boy under 11, and two counts of attempted rape of a girl under 16 at Sheffield Crown Court.
64-year-old Nazir Ahmed, who was elevated to the House of Lords by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998 after having served as a Labour Party councillor, chaired the South Yorkshire Labour Party, founded the British Muslim Councillors’ Forum, and been appointed a lay magistrate, is alleged to have carried out the crimes in the 1970s.
“This is about repeated sexual abuse that took place in Rotherham over a number of years,” said Tom Little QC for the prosecution, in comments quoted in court reports.
“Those involved kept it buried away for many years. It is no longer buried away and no longer kept quiet as they have complained,” he continued.
“This was not a single incident. It was not isolated and it was not innocent sexual experimentation by children. It was abuse, repeated abuse, plain and simple,” Little alleged, praising the female complainant who went to the authorities about Ahmed’s alleged abuse for having “had the courage to go to the police to make a complaint against a standing member of the House of Lords,” as Ahmed was at the time.
In an effort to support the prosecution’s position that the allegations are not “made-up or concocted”, Little played a recording of a telephone conversation between Ahmed’s alleged victims, which has been quoted by the BBC and other news outlets.
The female accuser told the male accuser that “What they did to you was utterly wrong and it’s time now to seek justice for the little boy who could not protect himself.”
“I’m not waiting any more. This is not just for me. It’s for you and for all the children Nazir Ahmed has abused and his brothers now,” she went on, trying to encourage the male to believe that the police would look after him and take him seriously.
The male, described by the Telegraph‘s reporter as “sounding very upset”, responded “I don’t want the bastard to get away with it” and told the female that he “thought I was the only one.”
“The surprise you can hear from [the alleged male victim] is palpable,” the prosecutor told jurors, per The Telegraph and MailOnline.
Lord Ahmed, who has previously told police that he believes there is “an agenda behind the complaints”, denies all charges.
His older brothers, 65-year-old Mohammed Tariq and 71-year-old Mohammed Farouq, were initially charged alongside him, but have since been deemed unfit to stand trial.
Lord Ahmed’s trial continues.
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