Mosque teacher fails to have child abuse jail sentence cut

A MOSQUE teacher who molested two young girls during Koran lessons has failed in a bid to have his prison sentence cut.

Mahmood Qadri, 60, subjected the children to abuse at Polwarth Mosque in Edinburgh during the 1990s.He was jailed for seven years last December after being found guilty of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour at the High Court in Glasgow.

His victims told the court he kissed them and carried out sex acts in a bedroom at the mosque.

The trial judge John Morris QC ordered that Qadri should be kept under supervision for a further two years after his release.Yesterday, Qadri, who maintains he is innocent of the crimes, took his case to the appeal court, claiming the sentence was too long and the supervision order unnecessary.

Rejecting both aspects of the appeal, judge Lord Carloway, sitting with Lord McEwan, said: "The conduct in this case was at the higher end of the scale of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices."Qadri was placed on the sex offenders' register for life after the trial and will never be allowed to teach children again.