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British Olympian Was A Victim of Slavery [1]
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Date: 2022-07-11
Slavery was made illegal in England in April 2010 — no not a mistype. In seminal rulings in the Scottish and English courts between 1772-3, judges ruled that since time immemorial*, slavery had no basis in the laws of both juresdictions. Thereafter any “slave” setting foot in Britain was automatically a free person. The “Modern Slavery” laws codified disparate laws against false imprisonment, etc.
One example was of an 8/9 year old boy, Hussein Abdi Kahin, who was trafficked from Somalia to Djibouti and sent to the UK around 1990. His father was killed in the Somali civil war in the breakaway region of Somaliland when he was about 4. He was given false papers with a different name to get through British immigration. On arrival he was forced to act do housework and look after the children of his “family”. When he was around 12, he was enrolled at a school in Feltham, West London. The school was told he was a refugee from Somalia.
One of his teachers recalls that he came to school "unkempt and uncared for", that he spoke very little English and was an "emotionally and culturally alienated" child. His physical education teacher. Alan Watkinson noticed how he blossomed on the athletics track, literally running away from his situation. Eventually Hussein confided his situation with Watkinson and he was taken into care and fostered with a Somali family.
Hussein kept on running and in 2012 he represented his adopted country at the 2012 London Olympics and again at the Rio Olympics four years later. He won two gold medals at each under his false name, Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah. He was awarded a CBE medal in 2013 and was knighted by the Queen in 2017. “Sir Mo” revealed his real early life story to the BBC this week.
While technically an illegal immigrant and had obtained citizenship under false pretences, it is highly unlikely that he will be prosecuted. That is not because of his knighthood but also because the emphasis in the modern slavery acts is to protect the victim.
Sir Mo says he wants to tell his story to challenge public perceptions of trafficking and slavery. "I had no idea there was so many people who are going through exactly the same thing that I did. It just shows how lucky I was," he says. "What really saved me, what made me different, was that I could run." The woman who brought Sir Mo to London has been approached by the BBC for comment, but has not responded.
*In England the legal definition of “time immemorial” is before 1189 CE. William I (AKA “William the Bastard” or “William the Conquerer”) had introduced a fine for owning slaves in 1070 although that was probably more of a tax payable to him.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/11/2109753/-British-Olympian-Was-Victim-of-Slavery
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