LONDON: Lord Nazir Ahmed, a former Labour Party peer of Pakistan origin, has been jailed for five years and six months for sexually abusing two young children, the Independent reported.
The 64-year-old was found guilty at a court in the southern city of Sheffield in the United Kingdom in January of the attempted rape of a young girl and sexually assaulting a boy under 11 in the early 1970s.
The offences took place when Ahmed was a teenager in Rotherham town.
The court heard that Ahmed attempted to rape the girl when he was about 16 or 17 years old. The victim was much younger.
He was also found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy under one in the same time period.
Passing the sentence on Friday, Justice Lavender said his actions had had “profound and lifelong effects” on the victims.
The survivor of the attempted rapes read her own victim personal statement in court, saying: “An overwhelming feeling of shame remained with me throughout my childhood and early adult years.
“It was a burden I was made to carry, and it silenced me for many years. It is now time for me to pass that burden to him — the paedophile who I know feels no personal shame.”
Ahmed, who was convicted following a retrial, resigned from the House of Lords in November 2020 after a conduct committee report concluded he had sexually and emotionally exploited a vulnerable woman who sought his help.
According to the Guardian, Ahmed’s two older brothers, Mohammed Farouq, 71, and Mohammed Tariq, 66, were also charged with indecent assault in relation to the same boy abused by Ahmed. Both men were deemed unfit to stand trial, but a jury found that they carried out the acts alleged.
Farouq and Tariq were both given absolute discharges after the judge said the only other two options — a hospital order or a supervision order — would not be appropriate in this case.
