Daily Mail
October 3, 2015
Three Libyan soldiers have claimed asylum in Britain days after they were released from prison for sexually assaulting three teenagers after going on a drunken rampage, it was revealed today.
Ibrahim El Maarfi, 21, Khaled El Azibi, 19, and Mohammed Abdalsalam, 27, worked ‘in a pack’ on the streets of Cambridge looking for victims to attack, their trial heard.
The three men were among 300 Libyan trainees stationed at Basingbourn army base and have now been transferred to an immigration centre after they served around ten months in prison.
A lawyer for one of their three victims said today that the woman was ‘dismayed’ that the men have asked to stay in Britain permanently.
‘It’s difficult enough to recover from a situation where you’re set upon by a stranger and sexually assaulted,’ solicitor Richard Scorer told the BBC.
‘But if you have to do that in the knowledge that that person has now come to this country and is trying to build a life here, I think that is very, very, very difficult to deal with, and completely wrong and unacceptable.
‘I think it’s a breach of their human rights and really we can’t allow this to happen.’
Hundreds of Libyans invited to the UK for military training were sent home amid claims of rape, drunkenness, fighting and theft.
The cadets – hand-picked by the British Army – were supposed to be given leadership skills to help their war-torn country.
Instead they have been allowed to run amok outside their Cambridgeshire barracks, terrifying their neighbours. British troops have been drafted in to restore order.
Khaled El Azibi, Naji El Maarfi and Mohammed Abdalsalam carried out the attacks while stationed at Bassingbourn Barracks last October.
They have been released from prison and transferred to secure immigration units.
The cadets were among 300 troops being trained to support the newly-formed Libyan government.
They stole bicycles and rode into Cambridge city centre before accosting three teenage women during the early hours of October 26, 2014.