Former Labour Party politician and House of Lords peer Lord Ahmed of Rotherham has appeared in court with two of his brothers on historic child sex abuse charges.
The 61-year-old appeared at Sheffield Magistrates’ Court charged with two counts of attempted rape of a girl under the age of 16 and one count of indecent assault against a boy under the age of 14, the incidently alleged to have taken place between 1971 and 1974 when Lord Ahmed was aged 14 to 17 years old, reports the BBC.
The former Labour peer did not make any pleas during the ten-minute hearing on Tuesday, but his solicitor said that he would be pleading not guilty to the three charges.
Lord Ahmed appeared in court alongside fellow Rotherham residents Mohamed Farouq, 68, and Mohammed Tariq, 63, reported by the BBC and the Guardian to be two of his brothers.
Mr Tariq is charged with two counts of indecently assaulting a boy under 14, allegedly committed between 1970 and 1972, while Mr Farouq is charged with four counts of indecent assault against a boy under 14 between 1968 and 1972. Both men pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mr Farouq, Mr Tariq, and Lord Ahmed were granted bail and ordered to appear before Sheffield Crown Court on April 16th.
The Guardian reports that Pakistani-born peer Nazir Ahmed came to the UK with his family in 1969 to join his father who was working at various steel factories in Rotherham.
At the age of 18, Ahmed joined the left-wing Labour Party in 1975, and studied at Sheffield Hallam University — then Sheffield Polytechnic.
He became a local lawmaker when he joined Rotherham metropolitan borough council in 1990, later becoming the northern town’s youngest magistrate.
The Rotherham resident was elevated to the House of Lords by then-prime minister and New Labour heavyweight Tony Blair in 1998, becoming one of the UK’s first Muslim peers.
The married father of three resigned from the Labour Party in 2013.