Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan has been charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy, it can be revealed after court reporting restrictions were lifted.
Imran Ahmad Khan, who was elected as Wakefield’s MP in the 2019 General Election, appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday via video link, standing accused of molesting a 15-year-old boy in Staffordshire in 2008.
“In the county of Staffordshire you intentionally touched a boy aged 15 and that touching was sexual when he did not consent and you did not reasonably believe that he was consenting, contrary to Section 3 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003,” the charge read out in court stated, per The Telegraph.
Mr Ahmad Khan, whose name was revealed after reporting restrictions were lifted on Friday, has proclaimed his innocence.
In a post on his social media account on Friday, the Tory MP said: “It is true that an accusation has been made against me.
“May I make it clear from the outset that the allegation, which is from over 13 years ago, is denied in the strongest terms.
“This matter is deeply distressing to me and I of course, take it extremely seriously.
“To be accused of doing something I did not do is shocking, destabilising, and traumatic. I am innocent.
“Those, like me, who are falsely accused of such actions are in the difficult position of having to endure damaging and painful speculation until the case is concluded.
“I ask for privacy as I work to clear my name.”
The Crown Prosecution Service revealed that they made the decision to charge the MP “after reviewing a file of evidence from Staffordshire Police”.
— Imran Ahmad Khan MP (@imranahmadkhan) June 18, 2021
According to the biography on his website, Mr Ahmad Khan was born in Wakefield, where he attended the private Silcoates School. He later attended university at the Pushkin Institute in Russia to study the Russian language before graduating from King’s College in London with a war studies degree.
Prior to his election to the Parliament, he served as a special assistant for political affairs in Mogadishu, Somalia, for the United Nations. Ahmad Khan also claims to be an expert in counter-terrorism.
Amid the trial, the Conservative Party has suspended the whip from Imran Khan, meaning that he will sit in Parliament as an independent but has not been formally expelled from the Tory Party.
A spokesperson for the Conservative Party said: “Imran Ahmad Khan has had the whip suspended. As there is an ongoing court case we will not be commenting further.”
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring informed Mr Ahmed Khan that he determined the case was unsuitable for trial at the magistrates’ court and sent the case to the Old Bailey.
Imran Ahmad Khan will appear before the Central Criminal Court on Old Bailey on July 15th, being granted unconditional bail until then.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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