23 January 2011
Imam 'raped boy, 12, as he attended mosque for religious lessons'
A Muslim worship leader is accused of raping a 12-year-old boy during visits to
a mosque for religious lessons.
Mohammed Hanif Khan, 42, is alleged to have sexually assaulted the boy inside
the Stoke on Trent mosque where he worked as the imam.
He is also charged with the attempted rape of and sexual activity with the
boy's cousin, who was 15 at the time, as he stayed over at his home one
evening.
Khan, who appeared in front of Nottingham Crown Court yesterday wearing a
black suit, white shirt and red tie, spoke only to confirm his name and to enter
not guilty pleas to all eight charges against him.
Khan, from Sheffield, is charged with three counts of rape, four counts of
attempted rape and one count of sexual activity with a child, all of which are
alleged to have taken place on various dates between July 1, 2009 and October
16, 2009.
Opening the case, prosecutor Tariq Bin Shakoor told the jury of six men and
six women that part of Khan's job as imam of the mosque was to lead prayers and
to give Islamic education lessons to boys who attended evening classes at the
mosque.
He told the court that in police interviews in October 2009 the 12-year-old
boy, who cannot be named, said he was singled out by Khan following the evening
prayer on about half a dozen occasions, the first of which was in around August
2009.
'On each occasion it happened at the mosque, usually after the formal prayers
in the main prayer hall,' the prosecutor said.
'The defendant would request him to lay out his red prayer mat in a different
part of the mosque. That is when the remaining prayer would be completed
individually and not in congregation.
'He seems to suggest that usually the defendant would take him through the
door marked "private" and into the sitting room area, and into the room with
cushions on the floor used by committee members.
'On occasions, then passing through another door in the big room, the
classroom, going to the corner at the back.'
The prosecutor said the defendant chose different places within the mosque
that were not covered by CCTV cameras, one of which was the area near the
building's bins.
'He (the boy) said once it happened by the bins downstairs. That, he
recalled, was the first time.
'The defendant had asked him to place a bin bag into the bins then followed
him into that area.'
The prosecutor said the boy described the defendant asking him before the
alleged abuse "Do you want some?" and when he replied in the negative, the
defendant would say "For God's sake, just say yes".'
It was in October 2009, shortly after the youngster told his father about the
incidents, that the family also became concerned about his cousin as he had
become reluctant to attend the mosque after spending the night at Khan's
home.
The prosecutor said the 12-year-old finally broke the news of the abuse to
his father by telling him 'Dad, in the mosque Sheikh Sahib has been taking my
trousers down.'
The youngster, who is now 13, said the abuse went on for around two months
before finally coming to an end.
The prosecutor said: 'The last occasion it happened was on Friday October 16,
2009, after which the defendant told him that he was then going to take him
somewhere else and "do it to him specially".
The court heard that after that last occasion the boy completed his prayer
and went to the toilet and washed himself before returning to class.
The prosecutor said the boy told police in his interviews that the defendant
was considered a very important figure among the Muslim community.
'In that interview he gives an account of his knowledge of the defendant, his
position, his roles in public life and how he perceived him to be a powerful man
of high standing.
'He says his family trusted him and the defendant had a strong following.
Such was that following that people would be prepared to die for him.'
The prosecutor said the defendant held the professional title Sheik Mohammed
Hanif Haqqani Kareemi and had an 'enormous amount of respect and authority,
particularly within the Muslim community'.
He was arrested on October 19, 2009. When the 12-year-old boy's family
approached his cousin about the defendant he said: 'He tried to take my trousers
down.'
The prosecutor said the boy had spent the night at Khan's home in July 2009
to help him pack prior to a house move.
It was as he was washing dishes that the defendant began to touch him in a
sexual way around the groin, he said.
He is alleged to have told the boy: 'Do you like this?'
The teenager, the prosecutor said, was in shock and did not know what to say
and the defendant went upstairs.
Later that night, after Khan had shown the boy the room in which he would be
sleeping, the boy found him lying on the bed and said Khan asked him for a
massage.
He did what he was told, the prosecutor said, and the defendant then started
to massage the youngster.
After producing a bottle of oil and rubbing it on the youngster's bottom, the
defendant then attempted to rape him, the prosecutor said.
When the boy objected the defendant stopped and left him alone, telling him
the next morning that whatever happened and was said in the house should stay in
the house.
The jury was told that the boy's police interviews would be played to them
through the course of the trial, as well as CCTV footage from inside the
mosque.
The trial continues.
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