Pakistani Drug Dealer Can Stay in UK ‘to Teach Son About Islam’

A Pakistani drug dealer has been allowed to remain in the UK because of his role in talking to his son about Islam and his culture.

The Home Office ordered the deportation of Muhammad Asif Karim, 43, after he amassed seven convictions for a total of 21 offences, including supplying the class A drugs heroin and cocaine, for which he served a four-year jail sentence.

He won his appeal against his removal after arguing that it would breach his rights to a family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

An upper tribunal accepted it would be “unduly harsh” on his son if he was to be deported to Pakistan, even though his child was being “largely brought up by his white British mother”.

The son gave evidence to the immigration court that his father “is able to talk to him about Islam, about Pakistani culture and his own upbringing”.

The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example uncovered by The Telegraph in which illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have been able to remain in the UK or halt their deportations on human rights grounds.

Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has announced plans to curb judges’ powers to block deportations with new legally enforced “common sense” rules to clarify how judges interpret Article 8 of the ECHR, and to strengthen the public interest test.

Karim came to the UK on a visitor’s visa in 1988 at the age of seven and never went home. After his prison sentence for drug dealing, he avoided deportation by becoming a witness in a murder trial. However, he was thrown off a witness protection programme after continuing to offend.

Even though the Home Office issued the deportation order against him in 2015, it was not until 2023 that his appeal against his removal was considered by a first-tier tribunal. It backed his claim on Article 8 grounds, but the Home Office appealed against that decision.

The upper tribunal heard that he had avoided criminality for a decade, enjoyed a “parental relationship” with his son and had lived in the UK for 26 years, amounting to most of his life.

After being told about his talks with his son, the tribunal accepted that these were “matters fundamental” to the boy’s identity.

The Home Office argued that this was “conjecture”, with no independent corroboration from a social worker or psychologist.

The upper tribunal was “satisfied” that the lower court was entitled to “place weight” on the boy’s evidence.

“We do not think it controversial to suggest that such matters would have significance for this child, who is himself of Pakistani origin, but is being largely brought up by his white British mother,” it said.

The tribunal also noted that the boy’s mother felt that Karim had a “positive impact” on the child. It said he “could talk to his son about studying and job choices, he could teach him to shave and talk to him about things a mother could not”.

‘Unduly harsh’ to deport

It therefore accepted that it would be “unduly harsh” to deport Karim, and rejected the Home Office appeal.

“Although there is a particularly strong public interest in removing someone who habitually committed crimes over a 14-year period, his last offence was committed over 10 years ago and he has complied with all probation and rehabilitation requirements, as well as the reporting conditions imposed on him by the Home Office,” it said.

“He has throughout the relevant period suffered from significant and debilitating mental ill-health, and although this was not a factor that the first-tier tribunal thought significant, it is right to note that there has been an inordinate delay – over 10 years – on the part of the Secretary of State in effecting this deportation.

“There was also evidence that he was himself a survivor of violence, trauma and criminality, all of which had played a role in his troubled youth.”