A former imam who spent over a decade exploiting his position as a trusted religious leader to sexually abuse women and girls has been sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 20 years, at Snaresbrook Crown Court in London.

Abdul Halim Khan, 54, of Old Ford Road, Tower Hamlets, was found guilty on 13 February of 21 offences spanning rape, sexual assault, and child sexual abuse. The charges included nine counts of rape, five counts of rape of a child under 13, four counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, and one count of assault by penetration. His victims numbered seven in total both adult women and young girls, the youngest of whom was 12 years old.

Khan served as an Imam at a mosque in East London and used the reverence and trust attached to his role to gain access to his victims. He would arrange meetings with them in secluded locations sometimes in their own homes and carry out the abuse under the sinister pretence that he was possessed by or disguised as a jinn, a supernatural spirit in Islamic belief.

Prosecutors described how he manipulated his victims’ deeply held religious convictions to instil fear, silence them, and ensure they would not speak out, warning them that their families would be placed at risk if they ever did.

The abuse spanned more than a decade, from 2005 to 2014. The Metropolitan Police investigation that ultimately brought Khan to justice involved interviews with over 50 witnesses and the examination of 10 mobile phone devices. Describing the scale and nature of his crimes, the sentencing judge characterised his conduct as an unrestrained campaign of rape and abuse, noting that Khan had acted with the brazen confidence of a man who believed he would never be held accountable certain that the shame and stigma of speaking out would keep his victims silent.

The Crown Prosecution Service’s specialist prosecutor said Khan had exploited his standing as a faith leader in the most calculated and damaging way, using religion not as a source of comfort but as a weapon of manipulation and control. One victim, in a statement read to the court, described the ordeal of coming forward as revisiting years of suppressed trauma, but said that doing so had been a step toward reclaiming her strength.

Detective Chief Inspector Jennie Ronan, who led the investigation, praised the courage of the survivors and said the outcome served as a reminder that support remains iavailable for anyone who has experienced sexual violence. Khan, an Indian national, now faces a minimum of two decades behind bars before any consideration of release a sentence that reflects both the duration and the severity of his crimes against some of the most vulnerable members of his community.