Imam who conducted illegal marriage ceremony spared jail

Ashraf Osmani claimed he was unaware that new legislation had come into force nine months before he presided over the Islamic nikah service, which upped the minimum age for getting married in England to 18.

Osmani, 52, an imam at Northampton's Central Mosque, pleaded guilty last year to two counts of causing a child to enter into a marriage in November 2023.

Northampton Crown Court heard Osmani agreed to marry the couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and charge £50 for a certificate, after they were turned away by another mosque.

Imposing a 15-week jail term suspended for a year, High Court Judge Mr Justice Choudhury told Osmani: "Your approach can only be described as negligent. You ought to have known the law had changed."

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The judge accepted there had been no "violence or coercion" involved in the Islamic marriage and that the 16-year-olds had gone to him "entirely of their own volition".

Handing down the sentence on Monday, the judge added: "Whilst this was a mistake, it was a serious one.

"I am sorry it has come to this Mr Osmani. It (the sentence) means you must keep out of trouble, which I am sure you will do, over the next year."

Prosecutor Jennifer Newcomb told the court Osmani agreed to perform the ceremony a day after meeting the would-be bride, having checked the couple's passports to make sure they were 16.

After the non-legally binding ceremony, the court heard, the couple celebrated with friends.

Before sentencing, defence barrister James Gray described Osmani as someone who had "made one mistake in 20 years of conducting nikah ceremonies".

There had been no compulsion of the couple to marry, Mr Gray said, adding: "They were happy to do what they were doing and they were to a degree determined to do it."

As well as pointing out that marriages involving 16-year-olds remain legal in Scotland, Mr Gray said there had been "no wilful defiance of the law" by Osmani.

The defence barrister told the court: "The principal purpose in asking for the passports was so he could check the dates of birth of the two people.

"He wanted to satisfy himself that they were of an age that he believed they could be married. He asked them to fill in an application form.

"He filled in the register at the mosque with the correct details and so all of those things combine, in our submission, to make it quite clear that he was labouring under a mistake as to the change in the law.

"Had he known of the change in the law he wouldn't have done it. He was doing everything he could to stay within the boundaries of the law.

"In twenty years this is a single isolated incident."

Osmani left the court without making any comment and covered his face with his hands and a scarf.