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A US court on Friday sentenced a pedophile former leader and teacher of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya to six and a half years in jail, after he pleaded guilty to repeatedly raping a minor boy of his congregation at different occasions.

Convict Muneeb-Ur-Rehman Ahmad was brought to the court of Judge Sherry Shipman of Denton County from jail for a pre-trial hearing where he requested the court that he wanted to confess his crime and therefore should be allowed to make a plea bargain. The judge said if he wanted to plead guilty he should do it today. The convict agreed and recorded his confessional statement before the court in return for a six-and-a-half year jail term.

His guilty plea to all charges means the victim shall not have to testify in a trial, and Muneeb will go to prison with the jail term.

The survivor recorded his victim impact statement in court. In the statement, he said he decided to bring his abuser to justice in a bid to ensure the safety and security of every child of Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya. His mother also recorded her statement and said the convict had been employing delaying tactics for two years but finally he got what he deserved. She said had he not mentally tortured them by delaying the trial, they could have weighed upon the option of forgiving him.

Muneeb was facing six charges, including three charges of sexual assault of a child and three charges of indecency with a child by sexual contact. These charges are in two different counties – Denton and Collin. There are two other allegations of the same nature against Muneeb in Harris County.

The crimes took place between March 2018 and March 2020 when the convict was working on an assignment from Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya to oversee boys between seven to 15 years of age at Ahmadi Bait-ul-Ikram Mosque, Dallas city.

He was arrested on May 11, 2020, and was later released on bail after furnishing a $100,000 surety bond. His bail was cancelled and the surety bond forfeited for his failure to appear before the court and he was declared an absconder. He was arrested and put behind bars. A district court granted him bail on June 13 against a bail bond worth $3 million but he has not furnished the bail bond so far and therefore he was still in jail. His trial in Collin and Harris counties will start later. He is from Canada and his passport is in police custody.

According to a report prepared by Facing Abuse in Community Environments (FACE), a US-based non-profit organization, the accused groomed the 14-year-old boy under his care. Over the course of at least 11 documented encounters, Muneeb sexually abused the boy at his apartment, in his car, and during community events and on youth group trips, they both attended. During this time, the victim was appointed Nazim Atfal (head of boys aged seven to 15) on July 21, 2019, while the accused was in his immediate supervision when he was posted as Motamid Khuddam.

Upon learning about the grooming and sexual assault, the victim’s family complained to the police and Muneeb was arrested on May 11, 2020. He was subsequently removed from the post of Motamid Khuddam. Muneeb was appointed as Motamid Khuddam in Fall 2017 while he was given the assignment of teaching Sunday School classes in Fall 2019 and continued in these roles until his arrest in May 2020.

Muneeb’s case came to light after revelations of three other Ahmadis, including Dr Muhammad Afzal Upal, Akash Ashar, and Nida Ul Nasser, 36, who has alleged being sexually molested from early childhood to the age of 25 by her father and three other close relatives of the head of the Jamaat-e-Ahmadiyya.