Afghan asylum seeker jailed for 15 years in the UK for raping 12-year-old girl

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Ahmad Mulakhil was convicted on Feb 10 of two counts of raping a child under 13 in July 2025, and will be sentenced at a later date.

Ahmad Mulakhil was convicted on Feb 10 of two counts of raping a child under 13 in July 2025.

PHOTO: WEST MIDLANDS POLICE

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  • Ahmad Mulakhil, an Afghan asylum seeker, received a 15-year sentence for raping a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton, England.
  • Mulakhil was convicted on multiple charges, including abduction, sexual assault, and creating indecent images of the victim.
  • The case ignited protests and political debate over asylum seekers, with deportation expected after his sentence (Reuters).

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LONDON - An Afghan national was on March 27 jailed for 15 years for raping a 12-year-old girl in Britain, a case that sparked local protests and a political row when his status as an asylum seeker was not initially disclosed by police.

Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, was convicted after a trial at Warwick Crown Court of one count of raping a child under 13 in Nuneaton, central England, in July 2025.

He had previously pleaded guilty to a further count of rape of a child under 13 and was also found guilty of abducting a child, sexual assault and making indecent images of a child by filming the victim.

Judge Kristina Montgomery said the victim had told Mulakhil that she was 19 years old, but that there was “no doubt that you knew she was aged under 16”.

She sentenced Mulakhil to 15 years in prison, which she said “renders you automatically liable for deportation”.

Anti-immigration activists have seized on other criminal cases involving asylum seekers, predominantly young men and particularly those housed in hotels, to argue that they are a danger to nearby communities.

Pro-migrant groups, however, have said far-right groups and opportunistic politicians are deliberately seeking to exploit and inflame tensions for their own ends. REUTERS

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