Younger brother of Olympic 2016 hero Mo Farah faces deportation to Somalia
Ahmed Farah served four years for knife crime, but now fears for his life.
The brother of quadruple Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah is facing deportation back to war-torn Somalia, despite having lived in the UK since he was just two. Mo eight years old.
Ahmed Farah, 27, has served four and a half years in prison for false imprisonment in connection with a knife raid. As he has never received full British citizenship he could be removed from the UK.
Ahmed lives in the same high-rise council flat in West London where he, Mo and their other brother, Wahib, first lived when their father, Muktar, brought them to London from Djibouti in 1991 after fleeing Somalia.
Mo now lives in Portland in the US, is happily married with four children and earning a fortune from his talent, while Ahmed's life has panned out very differently.
"My lifestyle was bad," Ahmed admits. "I was hyperactive, I used to drink, but you can't blame stuff on alcohol. I've just got to put my hands up and say that mistake happened, it's never going to happen again. Prison has made me a better person."
Now Ahmed faces deportation as a result of his convictions and fears for his life if he is deported to Somalia. Parts of the country are controlled by al-Shabaab which imposes a strict form of Sharia law and may not take kindly to his criminal past.
"I know I'm not going to survive out there," Ahmed told the Mirror. "Where would I go? They're going to take me to the airport and where would I go after that? I'd have to walk the streets. I'll just get attacked. People are going to detect I'm not from there – the way I talk, my swagger, everything about me. I'm going to stick out like a sore thumb. I'm a Muslim and I pray, and I keep faith in God, but things like my tattoos are forbidden under Sharia law."
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