UK police drop investigation into rape accusations involving Ahmadi leader’s family
London Police have dropped their investigation into an Ahmadi woman’s accusations of “historic sexual assault” against her father and close family members of the global leader of her community that reverberated around the globe in Ahmadiyya circles since January 2022.
Thirty-eight-year-old complainant Nida Ul Nasser is a close relative of Ahmadiyya community’s 5th spiritual leader Mirza Masroor Ahmad, and a grand-daughter of both the third and the fourth leaders, Mirza Nasir Ahmed and Mirza Tahir Ahmed respectively, through different lines. She was born and lives in Britain, where her father and community head also live.
No one was ever arrested in the case that was registered on July 22, 2021, with London Metropolitan Police. Those who were accused publicly denied the charges after a story was published by this writer in January 2022.
Josh Coupe, Media & Communications Manager of London Metropolitan Police Service, by an email, told Religion Observer that on 22 July 2021, police received a number of allegations of historic sexual assault reported to have taken place in Wandsworth, Surrey, and Dorset between 1987 and 2012. “Detectives from the Met’s South West Public Protection team carried out a number of enquiries and a man has been interviewed under caution”, Josh said, adding that in January 2023, following a review of the evidence, it was decided the case would be closed as it wouldn’t meet the evidential test for prosecution.
Nida had accused her own father of raping her repeatedly over a number of years when she was younger in the UK. She also accused the spiritual leader’s brother-in-law Mahmood Shah, and now late an orthopedic doctor at an Ahmadi hospital in Rabwa of raping her repeatedly during her four-year stay in Rabwa. She also accused the brother of the leader and head of the US Jamaat of inappropriate flirtation at the UK Jalsa Salana 2018.
The controversy had shaken the top leadership of the closely knit and hierarchically controlled Ahmadiyya community spread across the globe mostly consisting of Pakistani diaspora. This case led several other rape victims, male and female, of the community to come forward in making their ordeals public.
Nida’s story became public when audio of her phone call with her community’s head went viral where the latter was tapped asking her not to make her accusations to anyone outside the family. She told him that if he was not taking any action within the Jamaat, she would go to the police. He said nothing would happen and people would forget in a few days. Nida recorded their 44-minute conversation, conducted in Urdu, and it was posted on social media on December 11, 2021. If she spoke out publicly, he told her, she would face ex-communication. Since then, Nida and her mother have both been excommunicated by the community.
A number of women of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya from different countries raised their voices for Nida by associating their bitter experiences with hers on social media. Among them were Zahida Nisar from Germany, Arshi Malik from Pakistan, and some from the US under aliases to protect their identity. They are speaking at a social media platform set up by Toronto women Wajeeha Zafar and Affaf Azhar to keep a spotlight on Nida’s case.
It has been eight months since the London police dropped the investigation but everyone including the complainant and the accused kept it secret while members of the community have been waiting impatiently for any outcome.
While talking to Religion Observer, Nida said she does not want to issue any statement on this matter.
