Illegal immigrant who used fake passport to smuggle himself into Britain and work now claims being deported would breach his human rights

An illegal immigrant who smuggled himself into Britain on a fake passport has mounted a ‘human rights’ battle to stay in the UK - after fathering five children since his arrival.

Mohammed Zulfiqar, 55, paid £15,000 to a mystery person for forged travel documents so he could enter the country illegally in 2002.

But after spending 11 years in the UK he was arrested after he applied for a licence to get work as a doorman in the security industry and used the bogus passport to support his application.

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Zulfiqar, from Bradford, West Yorkshire but originally from Pakistan, was jailed for 21 months at Leeds Crown Court, pictured, for using a fake British passport to gain employment

Inquiries revealed the man named in the passport had reported it stolen, while a national insurance number quoted by Zulfiqar belonged to a dead man.

It also emerged Zulfiqar had begun a relationship with a woman after arriving in Britain and had five children with her.

Now Zulfiqar, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, is fighting a bid by the Home Office to deport him back to his native Pakistan.

It is believed he may be using Human Rights laws to stay in Britain under the Article 8 ‘the right to famly life’ legislation. 

His partner is said to have ‘health difficulties’.

 All his children are under the age of six.

Details emerged at Leeds Crown Court where Zulfiqar was jailed for 21 months after being found guilty of using the fake British passport to gain employment and possessing the Pakistan passport with counterfeit endorsements.

Martin Robertshaw, prosecuting, said Zulfiqar’s home in Bradford was searched on August 28 last year and a Pakistani passport was found with counterfeit entries on it including one that said there was no limit to the period he could stay in Britain.

In mitigation Zulfiqar’s lawyer Lisa Julian confirmed her client had five children under the age of six and a wife with health difficulties and was trying to fight deportation proceedings.

The Judge Mr Recorder Keith Miller said the fake British passport was a sophisticated forgery and it was only an expert who was examining it in minute detail who would spot some spelling mistakes in the small print.

OTHER CASES WHERE HUMAN RIGHTS LAWS HAVE BEEN USED TO STAY IN UK

The European Court of Human Rights in the French eastern city of Strasbourg

In January last year, an Algerian terror suspect was allowed to stay in Britain because a judge said he may commit suicide if he was forced to go back home.

The 43-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was believed to support one of the terrorist groups which carried out the deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant earlier this month which claimed the lives of 39 hostages including six Britons.

Mr Justice Mitting, chairman of the Special Immigrations unit, ruled that the terror suspect could not be deported because it would breach his human rights.

In May last year, rioters Ubong-Luke Nkanta, of south-east London, and a second man, who has been granted anonymity, escaped deportation by citing their human right to 'family life'. 

Nigerian-born Ubong-Luke Nkanta, from Thamesmead, was jailed in November 2011 for 18 months for burglary during the riots in London. 

He argued his relationship with his two biological children in the UK as well as his current partner's children meant his human rights would be breached if he was deported.

In September 2011, a Nigerian rapist escaped deportation after European judges ruled he had a right to a ‘private life’ in Britain. 

Akindoyin Akinshipe, 24, was due to be sent home after losing appeal after appeal in the British courts over his jailing for an attack on a girl of 13.

But in a staggering reversal, the European Court of Human Rights said this would breach his right to a ‘private and family life’.

But it had been spotted and when immigration officials went to his home they found the other passport with counterfeit stamps on it, including one purporting to be a visit to Islamabad.

Recorder Miller said: ‘I believe you know very much more than you are prepared to divulge about the circumstances in which you acquired the British passport and the stamps on the Pakistani passport. What is clear is that you are in this country illegally.

‘There is no record of your having entered the UK and during your evidence you stated you paid £15,000 to an agent in order to come here.’

He said in the worst cases such false documents could be used to engage in acts of terrorism, although that was not the case here.

‘In this and similar cases to yours the misuse of false passports undermines the legitimate purpose of the authorities in seeking to regulate immigration and the influx of people who wish to use our health, education and housing services,' he said.

Recorder Miller told Zulfiqar it would be up to the Home Office what happened over his deportation but it was open to his family to go to Pakistan themselves.

Last year, 200 offenders - including rapists and muggers - successfully challenged their removal from Britain by citing Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.