Afzal Khan has said he has ‘no relationship’ with Baron Ahmed and is ‘sickened’ by his crimes
Rusholme MP Afzal Khan next to disgraced peer Baron Ahmed at an event in June 2025. (Image: Instagram/@btproperties_)
A Manchester MP who appeared next to a disgraced baron at an event in Stockport last summer has said he has ‘no relationship’ with the former peer.
An investigation by the Sunday Times first reported on Saturday (April 11) that Afzal Khan, who has been a Labour MP for Rusholme since 2017, attended an event held at the Royal Nawaab Pyramid on June 14 last year.
Khan was pictured in an Instagram video walking in next to Baron Nazir Ahmed, a life peer in the House of Lords who was found guilty of historical sex offences against two children in 2022.
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MP Afzal Khan told the Manchester Evening News that he was ‘unaware’ Baron Ahmed would be attending and has ‘no relationship’ with him.
“The crimes he has been convicted of are truly sickening,” he said in a statement. “I want to reiterate that attendance at an event was not and should not be taken as endorsement of anyone present.
“The event space could hold up to 800 guests and so it was impossible to know who would be attending and there were other dignitaries present as well.”
Baron Ahmed, who was born in Pakistan but raised in Rotherham since the age of two, went on to become the first Asian councillor in Rotherham and was made a life peer in 1998.
In 2022 he was found guilty of a serious sexual assault against a boy and the attempted rape of a young girl, both under 13. He had denied the charges.
His trial at Sheffield Crown Court was told that the incidents took place in the 1970s when Ahmed was a teenager. In February 2022 he was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, reduced to two and a half years by the Court of Appeal.
The event in question was held to promote a new development in Dubai. Dubbed Waada, meaning ‘promise’ in Arabic and Urdu, it is set to be a huge luxury development in Dubai South, thought to be aimed at attracting ‘overseas Pakistanis’.
Afzal Khan pictured at the event next to Baron Ahmed (Image: Instagram/@btproperties_)
It is put forward by BT Properties, the ‘international arm’ of Bahria Town, which is one of the biggest real-estate development companies in Pakistan.
Mr Khan said he was invited by a ‘local businessperson’, not the organisers, and does not know or endorse the company in question.
Company founder Malik Riaz Hussain had more than £190 million in assets seized from him in 2019 after the National Crime Agency froze eight of his UK bank accounts, whose funds were ‘suspected to have derived from bribery and corruption overseas’.
Hussain had been the subject of an unexplained wealth order. The NCA said at the time that the asset handover represented a ‘settlement’ between the two parties and ‘did not represent a finding of guilt’.
Hussain and his son Ali Riaz Malik, who is CEO of Bahria Town, were banned from entering the UK in 2021 on the grounds that their ‘exclusion from the UK is conducive to the public good’. Both are wanted on extradition orders in Pakistan, with the government in Islamabad reportedly warning the public against investing in the Waada venture.
Both Baron Ahmed and Rusholme MP Afzal Khan were touted as ‘distinguished’ guests at last year’s event and could be seen on a clip posted to BT Properties’ Instagram account strolling side by side into the event on a red carpet.
Mr Khan appeared in a promotional video for the property company(Image: Instagram/@btproperties_)
They can later be seen seated next to each other at a table. Mr Khan was also seen for the promotional video for BP Properties, giving an interview in Urdu.
In a statement, Mr Khan continued: “I briefly attended the event after being invited by a local businessperson, not the organisers. I did not address the room, nor did I promote the company or project. I do not know the individuals or the company in question.
“I am invited to many events as part of my role as an MP, none of which should be taken as an endorsement of the event’s organisers because of my attendance.
“I have not invested in the project, and neither I nor my family have received any gifts or inducements.”