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Lord Nazir Ahmed was imprisoned in 2008, following a fatal car accident, for texting while driving.
By Pesach Benson, United With Israel
Lord Nazir Ahmed — who once alleged a Jewish conspiracy for a prison sentence he received after fatal automobile crash — is facing calls to be stripped of his peerage after he was convicted on Thursday for sexual offenses against two minors that took place in the 1970s.
He has been forced out of Parliament but for now, he cannot be stripped of his peerage because it was originally granted by the Queen.
Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan, is well-known in Britain’s Jewish community. In 2008, he was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison and disqualified from driving for 12 months following an automobile accident in which a man was killed. Ahmed admitted in court to sending and receiving text messages while driving.
However, in 2013, the Times of London reported that Ahmed blamed a “Jewish conspiracy” for his sentencing. In an interview on Pakistani TV conducted in Urdu, Ahmed insisted he was sentenced because of what he described as pressure from the “Jewish media” on the courts.
“My case became more critical because I went to Gaza to support Palestinians. My Jewish friends who own newspapers and TV channels opposed this,” Ahmed said. He also insinuated that Justice Alan Fraser Wilkie was improperly selected to oversee the trial and sentencing because of alleged Jewish connections.
Ahmed subsequently quit the Labour Party ahead of a hearing that could have led to his expulsion. In his letter of resignation, Ahmed maintained he had no recollection of the interview and alleged that the video in question had been doctored by Pakistanis with a grudge against him.
Despite leaving the party, Ahmed retained his seat in Parliament’s House of Lords by virtue of his peerage. The peerage was granted by Queen Elizabeth in 1998 on the recommendation of then-prime minister Tony Blair for Ahmed’s community work with British Muslims.
Ahmed resigned from the House of Lords in 2020 after two women accused him of sexually assaulting them. No criminal charges were filed, however.
Thursday’s convictions of rape and sexual assault against two minors stem from incidents between 1971 and 1974, when he was a teenager. Ahmed was charged along with two older brothers, but the brothers were deemed unfit to stand trial. He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 4.
Conservative MP Alexander Stafford is calling for Ahmed to be stripped of his title after discovering that Ahmed’s peerage is separate from his membership in parliament’s upper house. The lawmaker has launched a petition to that end.
“Anyone, frankly, who commits any abuse of children should automatically lose their title,” Stafford said.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, where Ahmed lives, told the BBC it would make “a mockery of the peerage system’ if Ahmed was allowed to keep his title.”
According to British media reports, removing Ahmed’s peerage would require new legislation.
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