Twenty men have been jailed for raping and abusing more than a dozen girls in a northern England town, in what a judge called a "vile and wicked" campaign of exploitation.
The men in the town of Huddersfield were found guilty in three trials this year, but the verdicts could not be reported until a judge lifted reporting restrictions Friday.
The cases are the latest in a series of prosecutions in northern English towns and cities for child sexual exploitation involving men of mostly Pakistani heritage.
This undated handout photo provided by West Yorkshire Police shows, top row from left, Amere Singh Dhaliwal, Irfan Ahmed, Zahid Hassan, Mohammed Kammer, Raj Singh Barsran, and bottom row from left, Mohammed Rizwan Aslam, Abdul Rehman, Nahman Mohammed, Mansoor Akhtar, and Mohammed Irfraz, ten of the twenty men jailed in Huddersfield, England. Twenty men have been jailed for raping and abusing more than a dozen teenage girls in the northern England city of Huddersfield. The men were found guilty in a series of trials this year, and a judge lifted reporting restrictions Friday, Oct. 19, 2018. Amere Singh Dhaliwal, whom prosecutors said was the gang’s ringleader, was found guilty of 22 counts of rape and sentenced earlier this year to a minimum of 18 years in prison. (West Yorkshire Police via AP)
The men were accused of being part of a gang that groomed vulnerable girls — described in court as from "isolated" backgrounds — and were convicted of more than 120 offenses against 15 victims aged between 11 and 17. Prosecutors said the victims were plied with alcohol and drugs before being sexually abused by the men at parties and in cars, parking lots, a snooker center and a fast-food restaurant.
Amere Singh Dhaliwal, whom prosecutors said was the gang's ringleader, was found guilty of 22 counts of rape and sentenced earlier this year to a minimum of 18 years in prison. The judge told him that "the way you treated these girls defies understanding."
"This abuse was vile and wicked," judge Geoffrey Marson said as he passed sentence at Leeds Crown Court.
The other men received sentences of between five and 18 years in prison.
The cases in Huddersfield, Rochdale and other towns — in which most of the victims were white — have heightened ethnic tensions in Britain and spurred criticism of local authorities, who failed to protect vulnerable girls, and of police, who often did not listen to the victims.
Far-right figures have used the crimes to argue that "Muslim grooming gangs" pose a particular threat to Britain.
Anti-Muslim activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who uses the pseudonym Tommy Robinson, was jailed for contempt of court in May after broadcasting live on Facebook outside the trial of some of the Huddersfield gang, breaching reporting restrictions.
Police statistics in Britain show that most offenders in child exploitation cases are white men, and most of the abuse takes place online, at home or in institutions such as schools.
But former prosecutor Nazir Afzal, who has brought many abusers to trial, says Pakistani men are disproportionately involved in the sort of street grooming seen in recent high-profile cases. He says that reflects the high number of South Asian men working for taxi firms and takeaway restaurants in the late-night economy, as well as their widespread sexist attitudes about women.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House was set Thursday to deliver a rebuke to President Joe Biden for pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, voting on legislation that would seek to force the weapons transfer as Republicans worked to highlight Democratic divisions over the Israel-Hamas war.
Seeking to discourage Israel from its offensive on the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah, the Biden administration this month put on hold a weapons shipment of 3,500 bombs — some as large as 2,000 pounds — that are capable of killing hundreds in populated areas. Republicans were outraged, accusing Biden of abandoning the closest U.S. ally in the Middle East.
Debate over the bill, rushed to the House floor by GOP leadership this week, showed Washington's deeply fractured outlook on the Israel-Hamas war. The White House and Democratic leadership have scrambled to rally support from a House caucus that ranges from moderates frustrated that the president would allow any daylight between the U.S. and Israel to progressives outraged that he is still sending any weapons at all.
On the right, Republicans said the president had no business chiding Israel for how it uses the U.S.-manufactured weapons that are instrumental in its war against Hamas. They have not been satisfied with the Biden administration moving forward this week on a new $1 billion sale to Israel of tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar rounds.
“We’re beyond frustrated,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said. “I don’t think we should tell the Israelis how to conduct their military campaign, period.”
The House bill condemns Biden for initiating the pause on the bomb shipment and would withhold funding for the State Department, Department of Defense and the National Security Council until the delivery is made.
The White House has said Biden would veto the bill if it passes Congress, and the Democratic-led Senate seems certain to reject it.
“It’s not going anywhere," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week.
Republicans were undeterred as they tried to highlight Democratic divides on the Israel-Hamas war. Appearing on the Capitol steps ahead of voting Thursday morning, House Republican leaders argued that passage of the bill in the House would build pressure on Schumer and Biden.
“It is President Biden and Senator Schumer himself who are standing in the way of getting Israel the resources it desperately needs to defend itself,” Speaker Mike Johnson said.
Biden placed the hold on the transfer of the bombs this month over concerns the weapons could inflict massive casualties in Rafah. The move underscored growing differences between his administration and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over its handling of the war.
Over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed as Israel tries to eliminate Hamas in retaliation for its Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel and took about 250 more captive. Hundreds of thousands of people could be at risk of death if Israel attacks Rafah, the United Nations humanitarian aid agency has warned, because so many have fled there for safety.
The heavy toll of the Israeli campaign has prompted intense protests on the left, including on university campuses nationwide and some aimed directly at Biden. At the same time, a group of moderate Democrats in Congress have expressed almost unconditional support for Israel. Roughly two dozen House Democrats last week signed onto a letter to the Biden administration saying they were “deeply concerned about the message” sent by pausing the bomb shipment.
Faced with the potential for a significant number of those Democrats voting for the GOP House bill, the White House has been in touch this week with lawmakers and congressional aides about the legislation, including with a classified briefing on the security situation.
House Democratic leadership has also worked hard to convince rank-and-file lawmakers to vote against the bill.
“This is another political stunt from the House GOP," said Rep. Katherine Clark, a Connecticut Democrat who is no. 2 in House leadership. She said the bill would endanger national security by withholding funding from key defense agencies.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he thought that “very few” Democrats would vote for the bill, saying it was more about political messaging than enacting actual law.
With the general election campaign coming into focus, Johnson has turned to advancing partisan bills, including legislation on immigration, local policing and antisemitism, that are intended to force Democrats into taking difficult votes.
On Thursday, several Democrats who have been openly critical of Biden's hold on the bomb shipment came out in opposition to the House bill.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who signed onto the letter criticizing the pause, said she was voting against the bill because it threatened to defund U.S. national security programs.
“It's being done to score cheap political points,” she said in a floor speech.
Still, other Democrats appeared likely to support the legislation.
“The administration has been wavering so I’m going to vote for the bill when it comes to the floor,” Rep. Ritchie Torres, a New York Democrat, said this week.
Another Democrat who has criticized the pause on the bomb shipment, Rep. Jared Moskowitz of Florida, said this week he was also considering the messages being sent to the Jewish community in the United States.
“My community right now is worried,” he said. “Things don’t happen in a vacuum.”
Historically, the U.S. has sent enormous amounts of weaponry to Israel, and it has only accelerated those shipments after the Oct. 7 attack. But some progressives are pushing for an end to that relationship as they argue that Israel's campaign into Gaza amounts to genocide — a characterization that the Biden administration has rejected.
“My fear is that our government and us as citizens, as taxpayers, we are going to be complicit in genocide,” said Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat. “And that goes against everything we value as a nation.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., center, flanked by GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., left, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., speak to reporters about President Joe Biden pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined at left by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speak to reporters about President Joe Biden pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined from left by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speaks to reporters about President Joe Biden pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined from left by Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., speaks to reporters about President Joe Biden pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
From left, GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., speak to reporters about President Joe Biden pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
FILE - Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks with reporters to discuss his proposal of sending crucial bipartisan support to aid Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after weeks of inaction, at the Capitol in Washington, April 17, 2024. House Republicans plan to deliver a rebuke to President Joe Biden for putting a pause on a shipment of bombs to Israel that could be used in an assault on Rafah. They are voting Thursday on a bill that has practically no chance of being enacted but puts pressure on Democrats as it mandates delivery of the weapons. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file)
