A survivor of the Rotherham child abuse scandal has condemned conservatives for appointing a lawmaker who has now been convicted of a sex offender to an adviser on child exploitation after being questioned.
Sami Woodhouse said it was “surprising” that her colleague, Imran Ahmad Khan, an associate in the Interior Ministry’s expert group, had already been questioned by police about the attack on a 15-year-old boy while serving together in the Interior Ministry. works. panel.
Khan was found guilty this month of harassing his victim, who told the court that the Conservative Party had also been warned about the MP while he was in office, but had not taken any action.
The Guardian revealed Khan’s appointment to the committee on Tuesday. Asked by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he declined to condemn Khan’s appointment.
Woodhouse, who was 14 when she was cut by a 24-year-old haircut gang leader, attended online meetings with Khan in 2020 at the invitation of the Home Office.
She said she was disgusted by his role in the committee.
“It was an important job that I took in good faith, but I am disgusted to be in a situation where I was working with a man who was later convicted of child sexual abuse.
“Since I know that the Conservatives have already received complaints from a victim about this man, it is annoying to me as a survivor that they could allow him to be considered for this role,” she said.
Khan attended online meetings with the group of sexual exploitation experts in July, September and November 2020. Staffordshire police say he made a written statement after being questioned in May 2020 to respond to allegations. that he attacked a minor.
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Khan was elected in December 2019. A few days before the general election, his victim, then 24, called the Conservative Party and told them about the violence he had suffered at Khan’s hands, he told the court.
The attack took place in January 2008, when Khan was 34 and before he became an MP. Khan tried to force a 15-year-old boy to drink alcohol before sexually assaulting him at a house in Staffordshire. The boy immediately told his parents about the sexual abuse.
After Khan was elected MP from Wakefield, the victim decided to continue the appeal because he was worried that Khan was unfit to hold public office, he told the court.
Staffordshire police have launched an investigation into Khan, sending him a questionnaire about the incident in line with Covid’s restrictions. Khan responded with a cautious statement in May 2020, a police spokesman said.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday that neither Patel nor the Interior Ministry were aware of the claims against Khan before they were made public in 2021.
“In his role as an MP, Mr Hahn was asked, along with several others, to carry out a peer review of a research article by the Ministry of the Interior. At the time, the Interior Ministry was unaware of the charges against him and he no longer has anything to do with the department.
At the House of Commons, Manchester United MP Jeff Smith asked if Johnson would apologize for the Tories’ failure to take the allegations of Khan’s victim seriously.
Johnson replied: “I believe the Home Office has already made a statement to that effect.”
Khan was indicted in 2021 and later found guilty and warned to face imprisonment. He said he would step down, but has not yet done so.
Labor MP Louise Hay has asked Home Secretary Priti Patel and Johnson to “clarify” what the Conservative Party knew about reports of child sexual abuse of Khan.
“Khan’s victim told the Conservatives about the heinous sexual violence, but they did nothing and then shamefully appointed him to sit next to the survivors of the sexual exploitation of children.
“How is it possible for them to put the victims in this position?”
A Conservative spokesman said Tuesday: “We have not found any record of this complaint.”
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