Nazir Ahmed
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Nazir Ahmed, Baron Ahmed (1957–) is a British politician and a former member of the Labour Party who was a member of the House of Lords. He's best known for his controversies.
In April 2012, Ahmed reportedly denounced the US government's bounty on Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, calling it an insult to all Muslims and stating that "If the US can announce a reward of $10 million for the captor of Hafiz Saeed, I can announce a bounty of 10 million pounds on President Obama and his predecessor George Bush".[1] This resulted in him being temporarily suspended from the Labour Party.[2] He denied making these statements,[3] even though the website of the university that was hosting him at the time also quotes him as saying much the same thing in its summary of the event.[4]
Ahmed was jailed for 12 weeks in 2009 for dangerous driving in an incident that resulted in a man's death.[5] In March 2013 it was reported that he blamed his prison sentence on a Jewish conspiracy,[6] which resulted in him being suspended for a second time,[7] and he later resigned from the Labour Party due to the controversy.[8]
In 2019, Ahmed was charged with attempted rape and indecent assault between 1971 and 1974.[9] The victims were a boy and a girl, both under the age of 13. The incidents took place when Ahmed was a teenager, aged 14 to 17. He was found guilty at the 2022 trial and sentenced to five years and six months. The sentence was later reduced to two and a half years on appeal.[10]
He resigned from the House of Lords in 2020 following the result of a Lords Conduct Committee investigation[11] that concluded he had exploited a member of the public who had sought his help to report an exploitive faith healer to the police, instead coercing her into a sexual relationship. In proper governmental fashion, it took a news report on the issue after she was denied an investigation to get the government to actually look into the complaints.[12]
Shamefully, although no longer a member of the House of Lords following his resignation, he retains his title as a life peer, which can not be rescinded without an act of parliament.[13]
References[edit]
- ↑ http://tribune.com.pk/story/364863/sterling-bounty-offered-for-obama-bush/
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18658233
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17723890
- ↑ http://pu.edu.pk/home/section/seminars/1445
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/4804702/Labour-peer-Lord-Ahmed-jailed-for-motorway-texting.html
- ↑ http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=306382
- ↑ http://www.channel4.com/news/lord-ahmed-suspended-over-jewish-conspiracy-comments
- ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/labour-peer-lord-ahmed-resigns-from-party-over-alleged-antisemitic-comments-8614641.html
- ↑ Lord Ahmed appears in court charged with child sexual offences The Guardian, March 19, 2019
- ↑ Peer Nazir Ahmed’s jail term for 1970s sexual assault cut by three years The Guardian, March 13, 2023
- ↑ https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5801/ldselect/ldcond/170/17005.htm
- ↑ https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54975932
- ↑ Peerages: can they be removed? House of Lords Library, February 10, 2022