Mohammad Masroor — who was acquitted in Toronto on similar allegations a year ago — was convicted in Detroit of all 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct. It was Masroor’s Toronto’s alleged victims who convinced the Detroit victims — who had since moved to another state — to report their allegations to American authorities in July 2011 when he was charged here. Masroor was extradited from Canada to Detroit last November.
TORONTO — A former Toronto-based Muslim cleric who terrorized his sexual abuse victims into silence with threats of stoning in their homeland is now serving a 35 to 50-year prison sentence in Michigan after a historic trial.
Mohammad Masroor — who was acquitted in Toronto on similar allegations a year ago — was convicted in Detroit of all 15 counts of criminal sexual conduct, reported QMI.
It is believed to be the first U.S. trial in which a witness wore a religious veil to cover her face, prosecutor Khalil Rahal said.
“As far as I know it was the first trial where one wore a niqab,” Rahal said in an interview Thursday. “Judge Michael Hathaway gave them a choice and two unveiled themselves.”
Masroor taught at a non-profit Islamic school in his brother’s house in Detroit from 2000 through 2003 and through this role, he engaged his victims, then aged nine to 13 years old, in sexual acts.
Five “similar-fact” witnesses testified that Masroor abused them in a similar manner in other locations. All victims’ identities are covered by a publication ban.
It was Masroor’s Toronto’s alleged victims who convinced the Detroit victims — who had since moved to another state — to report their allegations to American authorities in July 2011 when he was charged here. Masroor was extradited from Canada to Detroit last November.
“These allegations arose here because the Toronto victims contacted those in Detroit who mustered the courage to report it,” Rahal said.
Masroor kept his American victims silent through a combination of threats of either physical violence and religious retribution because of the loss of their chastity, Rahal said.
“In their community staying a virgin means the world. In Bangladesh, they would be stoned to death,” Rahal said.
The two eldest victims, now aged 25 and 27, shed their niqabs while testifying against Masroor while the youngest, now 23, kept her face covered.
“It was the first time in their lives that they’d ever exposed their faces outside of their families in the community,” Rahal said. “They were extremely devout Muslims.”
Masroor and his family moved from his native Bangladesh to the United States and then to Canada in 2008.
In March 2013, Masroor was acquitted in Toronto of sex crimes against a girl, then aged 17 to 21, between Nov. 1, 2008, and July 28, 2011, and another girl, then 15, and a 10-year-old boy in 2011.
In her judgment, Justice Jane Kelly said that the main victim, while credible and earnest, was not a reliable witness due to inherent inconsistencies in her evidence.
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