prison muslim cleric hate

PRISON MUSLIM CLERIC HATE

Bradford mosque teacher has been jailed for 13 years

By Tony Earnshaw
Crime and Court Reporter
Telegraph & Argus
June 20, 2025

A “trusted” Muslim cleric who repeatedly raped a young boy whilst working as a teacher at a Bradford mosque has been handed an extended jail sentence.

Mohammed Hanif Khan will serve 13 years in prison plus a further three years on licence for a series of sex attacks on the victim more than a quarter of a century ago.

Khan, 57, of Blagden Street, Sheffield, appeared via video link from HMP Leeds for the hearing at Bradford Crown Court.
His victim was present in the public gallery to see justice done.

Sentencing Khan, His Honour Judge Christopher Smith told Khan: “You were a respected member of the teaching staff.”
He said his “outward and respectful appearance masked a devious and perverted sexual interest” in underage boys.

The judge added: “And you grossly abused the trust placed in you by colleagues and the parents of the children in your care in order to commit these terrible offences.”

He added: “You secured your victim’s silence by telling him that he would not be believed if he reported you.

“Regrettably, opportunities were missed to bring your offending to an end when other individual members of staff found you in suspicious circumstances but failed to report matters to others as they should have done so.”

Judge Smith said the extended sentence he passed reflected the danger that Khan continued to pose to the public.

He also referred to Khan’s previous conviction for “strikingly similar” behaviour at Stoke-on-Trent in 2009, for which he received 16 years’ imprisonment in 2011.

His offending in Bradford pre-dated the Stoke assaults.

Judge Smith said Khan could have brought those earlier rapes to the attention of the police when he was charged with the Stoke offences “but you chose not to do so”.

He said: “I am satisfied that you do continue to present a risk of committing such offences.”

The judge said that while he was being sentenced for the offences of more than a quarter of a century ago, “there has been further serious offending of a strikingly similar type in the intervening period”.

“You accept only limited responsibility for your actions and there is a continuing lack of genuine insight,” he said.

“Although you are now in your late 50s you may be eligible for release from the sentence I impose in your mid-60s and I am not satisfied today that ordinary licence provisions will protect the public for the appropriate length of time at that point.”

UK prison imams are free to spread hatred: Preachers found to be distributing extremist literature including homophobic and misogynistic leaflets

•    MoJ-appointed imams 'routinely distribute extremist literature' in prisons
•    Leaked report found hate pamphlets and CDs in more than 10 jails
•    Review ordered by Michael Gove but not cleared for publication yet
•    It was led by former prison governor and Home Office official Ian Acheson
•    Muslims make up 14.5 per cent of inmates in prisons across the UK
•    Majority of British imams are trained in the conservative Deobandi tradition

By TAMMY HUGHES FOR THE DAILY MAIL and HUGO GYE FOR MAILONLINE
18 April 2016

Muslim preachers approved by the Government are routinely distributing extremist literature in British prisons leaving hundreds of inmates at risks of radicalisation, a leaked report has found.

The extremist review, ordered by Michael Gove last year, found extremist CDs and pamphlets in more than 10 jails in November, it was reported today.

Inspectors also found hate tracts encouraging the murder of apostates, misogynistic and homophobic leaflets and extreme Islamic literature preaching contempt for British society.

The report is said to have sparked panic among officials who are worried about being seen to have lost control of jails - but ministers have not yet approved its publication.

A leaked version of the review, which began in September under former prison governor and Home Office mandarin Ian Acheson, was published by The Times today.

The findings are understood to have sparked an urgent internal alert because of the risk of ‘severe reputational damage’ to the Ministry of Justice.

There was evidence that a large number of clerics were from the Deobandi sect, which traditionally promotes conservative anti-British ideology.

A website promoting the Deobandi movement says loyalty is owed only to the global brotherhood of Muslims while integration into British society is denounced.

But Michael Spurr, chief executive of the National Offender Management Service (Noms), has praised the movement saying that its teachings support 'fundamental British values such as democracy, individual liberty and mutual respect'.

Chaplains at several of the prisons, who are appointed by the Ministry of Justice, were found to be encouraging inmates to raise funds for Islamic charities linked to international terrorism.

And a lack of scrutiny and weak corporate guidance meant that there was little or no assessment of the suitability of materials or the effect they would have on ‘impressionable minds’.

A Whitehall source said that the material was kept in prison chaplaincy rooms and was available for anyone to come in and pick it up.

Prisons in England and Wales held 12,328 Muslim inmates at the start of this year, of which 131 were convicted terrorists. A further 1,000 were deemed vulnerable to radicalisation.

Muslims make up 4.8 per cent of the population but make up 14.5 per cent of inmates in UK prisons. Many criminals are said to convert in jail in order to gain the protection of Muslim gangs.

The review also found that many of the chaplains were not prepared for counter-radicalisation work, which was 'sometimes because they lacked the capability but often because they don’t have the will'.

Imams also seemed to be unaware that they had a statutory duty to try and stop people from becoming terrorists.

Of the 200 full time and part time Muslim chaplains, some of which are on salaries of up to £40,000, 70 per cent were taught in Deobandi institutions.

There was also evidence that imams from other sects felt marginalised and bullied by those their Deobandi colleagues.

Last year the former counter-terror boss Chris Phillips warned that staff shortages in prisons were making it harder to tackle Islamic radicalisation because extremists were not properly monitored.

Chris Grayling, the Justice Secretary at the time, rejected the claim.

The Prison Officer Association also said last year that Islamist extremists were attempting to radicalise prisoners by deliberately getting custodial sentences or gaining jobs in jails.

And last month, a top barrister told the Old Bailey that there was pressure to 'conform to certain religious views' in the high-security prison Belmarsh because of the power wielded by radical Muslim inmates.

A report on HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire found that half of all inmates were claiming to be followers of Islam, after being intimidated into converting by high-profile Muslim prisoners.

The Times reported that the ministry is awaiting clearance from No 10 to publish the report which includes 69 separate recommendations.

It is believed to have been critical of corporate weaknesses within Noms.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: 'We don't comment on leaked documents.'

How prisoners are converting to Islam 'in order to join Muslim gangs and secure special privileges'

More than one in seven prisoners in British jails is now a Muslim, far more than the faith's popularity in the population as a whole.

The reason for the disproportionately high number is believed to be down to non-Muslim inmates converting to Islam once they go into prison.

Levi Bellfield, the killer of Milly Dowler, is perhaps the best-known criminal to have become a Muslim in jail, and now goes under the name Yusuf Rahim.

Prison sources have accused him of only turning to the religion to get special privileges, such as halal food and extra time out of his cell in order to pray.

The Officers' Association union has previously claimed that there are a large number of so-called 'convenience Muslims' who adopt the faith because they want to game the system.

Six months ago, a report found that HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire was the first prison where half the inmates on the main wing are Muslims.

Watchdogs said: 'Some prisoners and staff found the Muslim presence overwhelming. The social and religious fragmentation within Whitemoor potentially posed risks for discipline and hence safety.'

Prisoners claimed they came under extreme pressure to convert to Islam, and even non-Muslims were effectively banned from cooking pork because of opposition from Muslim gangs.

In March, an Old Bailey trial was told that guards at Belmarsh had 'lost control' of Muslim gangs which intimidated others into conforming.

'There's a degree of fear as to the need to conform to certain religious views in Belmarsh,' barrister Rupert Pardoe said.

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