Portsmouth woman calls for rapist to be deported after sentence | UK News

A woman who was raped by a Sudanese refugee has said she is worried the humanitarian crisis in his home country will prevent him from being deported.

Her attacker, Abdelarahman Saleh Adam, was convicted of rape in 2021 and sentenced to nine years in prison, at least six of which he will spend in custody.

Zara, who is from Portsmouth and was 19 when she was attacked, is calling on the Home Secretary to deport him once his sentence is complete. The is not using her real name.

The Home Office said it was “reviewing the law to end spurious legal challenges which delay deportations”.

Adam had been granted refugee status and had leave to remain in the UK at the time of the offence.

“I feel absolutely terrified he knows the area I live in,” Zara said.

“So what’s to stop him from coming back down to Portsmouth after the sentence is finished and doing something to me or anyone else.”

Under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), her attacker may be able to remain in the UK if there is a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the country of return.

Zara was attacked after changing her route home to avoid Adam, who tried to speak to her on a main road.

She recalled how he followed her and threatened her with a weapon before assaulting her.

“He told me not to say anything or he’d use a weapon on me,” she said.

Police later identified Adam, a resident in London who was visiting Portsmouth, as being her attacker using DNA evidence.

During the trial, the judge praised Zara for her courage.

Adam was placed on the sex offenders’ register and must serve at least six years before being eligible for release.

More than 150,000 people have died in Sudan’s civil war and about 12 million have fled their homes in what the United Nations has called the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.

But Zara insists Adam should be deported, despite the conditions in his home country.

“He took away my human rights, my right to feel safe and to own my own body,” she said.

“If he didn’t want to go back to such a horrible place, then maybe he shouldn’t commit such a horrible crime.”

Her sentiments have been echoed by some politicians, who believe the ECHR has tied the hands of British courts.

The Conservatives and Reform are calling for the UK to walk away from the treaty.

Zara, who is mixed race, said she was not anti-immigration and the protests during the summer made her feel “scared” and “caused fear in communities”.

Sarah Singer, professor of refugee law at the University of London, said: “In some instances, human rights can act as a barrier to removal, but I must stress this is really in very exceptional cases.

“In the case of removal to Sudan, it’s very likely that Article 3 protection would prevent removal, because it is a country in the grips of one of the worst humanitarian crises on the globe today.”

Zara said she did believe that “everyone has a right to a safe haven”.

“Everyone should be given a chance to work, to build a future,” she said.

“But if you do anything to jeopardise that, then I believe you should be deported.”

Zara said she had not been contacted by officials about what would happen to her attacker once his sentence was complete.

She wants the Home Secretary to listen to women like her who have been impacted by violent sexual crimes.

“If you are not taking action, then other people are going to think that it’s okay to take action instead of you and it will be worse,” she said.

Zara said that in court Adam had spoken about his upbringing in Sudan.

“Fleeing from a war torn country is horrible”, she said. “To come to this country with that story and then mess it up so badly, it’s just not OK.

“You’ve had this opportunity at a better life and you’ve thrown it down the drain for what?”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with this brave survivor and all survivors of awful sexual violence.

“We’re reviewing the law to end spurious legal challenges which delay deportations.

“We will seek to deport foreign nationals who commit crimes on British soil.”