Britain: A group of Muslim men who abducted and raped two teenage girls as part of their Eid celebrations laughed in court as they were jailed for a total of 38 years

The girls, aged 15 and 16, were lured miles from their home to a dingy hostel. In a horrifying weekend-long ordeal, they were plied with alcohol and repeatedly raped by two men, Shamrez Rashid and Amar Hussain, before being offered to a number of others who also used them for sex. The 16-year old was forced to have sex six times with four different men. The younger victim was raped by one man and then sexually assaulted by another. One defendant, Rashid, 20, was said to have claimed that the girls had enjoyed the sex, which he said had taken place as they celebrated the Muslim festival of Eid. The five Muslim defendants laughed and smirked as the horrifying details of their offenses were described in court. Rashid – who had already been found guilty of two rapes, an attempted rape, child abduction and an attempted sexual assault – grinned, laughed and made gun gestures in the dock. The trial at Birmingham Crown Court was the latest of several cases in which groups of South Asian men have been accused of sexually exploiting vulnerable girls. Hussain was found guilty of child abduction and three rapes and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Rashid received ten years for child abduction, two rapes, an attempted rape and attempted sexual assault. Adil Saleem, 20, was given eight years for one count of rape. Jahbar Rafiq, 28, was handed eight years for rape and sexual assault and Amer Islam Choudhrey, 20, was given 15 months for child abduction and sexual assault.