A man who kept a harem of sex slaves in Oldham, Greater Manchester, subjecting them to rape and torture over a 14-year period, has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Iqbal Ali, 33, kept four women as his slaves, often subjecting them to brutal punishments such as beatings and public humiliation if they disobeyed his rules.
The Daily Mail reports that he kept two of his victims at his home where he monitored their every move and made them wear recording devices so he could hear them at all times. He forced one of the women, who worked as a teaching assistant, to burn her hands on a hob as a punishment and choked her with a belt until she fell unconscious.
A second woman, with whom he had a son, had to stand partially naked in a window with the word “slut” written across her chest after Ali accused her of flirting with other men.
He used fear to keep the women in his home, saying his friends could kill them if they left.
Prosecutor David Toal told Minshull Crown Court in Manchester that the teaching assistant had also been scolded with boiling water and was sometimes throttled in front of a mirror or tied naked to a wardrobe.
He even insisted she sit on a sofa in front of a video camera while he went out then watched the footage back to check she had not moved. He also made her wear a hidden camera to work so he could watch her interaction with male colleagues. When he became jealous, he forced her to fake illness and take time off.
The second women said she was forced to climb into a wardrobe where Ali put a gun in her mouth and said he would pull the trigger if she didn’t obey him. He also punched her in the stomach while she was seven months pregnant and forced her to befriend other young women and bring them home for him to sleep with.
“He wanted to sleep with her. He wanted to sleep with as many women as possible. He would have hurt me if I ruined his chances,” she said.
Ali was only caught when the teaching assistant collapsed in a pharmacy while suffering breathing difficulties. She was taken to hospital where the scale of her injuries was discovered and the police notified.
Ali was found guilty of 25 offences including four counts of rape, 13 of assault causing actual bodily harm, two of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, two of common assault, two of indecent assault and two of possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Judge Moushtaq Khokar told Ali: “In all of the cases there was extreme control imposed upon these women, what they did, who they spoke to, what they wore, where they worked and the rest. All this was made possible because they were told that you associated with people who killed.
“They were made to send you texts and even had to stay on the phone so you could hear whether they spoke to another male or not. You deliberately isolated them from their family and friends, maybe because if they did speak to them you would not have the sort of control that you did.
“One finds it very difficult to understand as to why someone in a relationship would put his partner through that. One of the victims used the word torture. All of them felt trapped once they got into a relationship with you.
“This is one of the most serious cases of offending that I have come across. There has not been any expression of remorse on your part. You are a dangerous man.”