Imam Convicted of Raping Nine Girls in 'Healing' Abuse Cases

Aria was 13 when an imam sexually assaulted her, claiming he was healing her.

After the attacks, he warned the girls that telling anyone would undo the cure, bring curses or harm them and their families through black magic. Khan told Aria something really bad would happen to her and her family if she spoke about the abuse. She was not the only victim.

He lured them to isolated spots like flats or cars, where he raped or abused them while pretending to be a Jinn, a supernatural spirit. Khan picked cars with tinted windows, gave one victim a phone to reach her and urged another to climb out her bedroom window.

Aria's mother introduced her to Khan after school troubles, saying he would offer advice. When they met, Khan told her to get in his car. "That's when he touched me inappropriately," Aria says.

"I had my eyes closed and he said there are going to be things that are knocking on the car window. And I did hear those knocks. But obviously I was 13 years old, I was terrified."

Khan's convictions cover nine counts of rape plus sexual assault and child abuse against seven victims from the local Muslim community.

Police learned of the crimes in 2018 when his youngest victim told her school therapist. Charges came five years later.

Farah, also a pseudonym, met Khan as a child after he persuaded her mother she needed healing. He took advantage of her family, she says. "He would make up stories, [saying] 'I can see things coming towards you, you need to be protected, I need to protect your daughter'."

Khan's abuse "didn't make sense to me," Farah says. "I said to myself, 'this is wrong'. You know you're not meant to be touched like this. I was really confused, but I couldn't go back to my family because they wouldn't believe me."

Farah told her parents as a teenager, but they did not believe her, and she left home. "I was not believed by my family. The people I expected to protect and support me instead turned away, blamed me, and continue to do so to this day," she says.

"I feel as though I'm lost. I question my identity of who am I? Where do I belong?"

Melissa Garner, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, says she has "never seen anything quite like" Khan's abuse of young girls and women. He "threatened and brainwashed" victims into believing he was possessed. "It was deeply shocking, and when you actually watch the victim's evidence, it's deeply upsetting."

Aisha K Gill, a University of Bristol criminology professor and expert prosecution witness on the religious context, says orthodox Islamic teaching rejects black magic but it holds cultural sway. "Victims were led to believe that only Khan could protect them and their families from catastrophic supernatural harm, and that withdrawing from his control would expose them to devastating consequences,"

Prof Gill adds that disclosing sexual violence poses risks for Muslim women. "Many women are socialised not to discuss private matters outside the family and may internalise shame that properly belongs to the perpetrator,"

The assault has left a lasting mark on Aria. "Sometimes you question, who would I have been as a person if this thing didn't happen to me?"