Ex-Imam jailed for life after sexually abusing seven women and girls for more than a decade

A former imam who sexually abused women and girls over more than 10 years has been jailed.

Abdul Halim Khan, 54, has been served a life sentence today at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London and will have to do a minimum term of 20 years.

He has been convicted of 21 offences including rape, sexual assault and child sex offences which occurred between 2004 to 2015.

The convicted ex-imam conducted his campaign of sexual abuse against seven women and girls.

Khan was an imam at a mosque in east London and used his position of power as a trusted religious leader to access his victims and influence them.

He would organise meetings with them in secluded locations, sometimes in the victims' homes where he would sexually abuse them under the guise that he was a jinn (a supernatural spirit).

His victims were convinced that harm would come upon them or their families through "black magic" if they reported the ex-imam's abuse, which left them not coming forward for years.

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