By Daily Sports Nigeria on July 13, 2022

Olympic great Mo Farah expressed relief Wednesday after receiving fulsome backing from the UK government despite his admission that he was illegally trafficked into Britain as a child.

The revelation in a new BBC documentary could have raised questions about Farah’s UK citizenship, but the interior ministry said it was taking no action.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “He is a sporting hero, he is an inspiration to people across the country.

“It is a shocking reminder of the horrors that people face when they are trafficked. And we must continue to clamp down on these criminals who take advantage of vulnerable people.”

The 39-year-old distance runner, one of Britain’s best-loved and most successful athletes, revealed his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin, and he was forced to work in domestic servitude after entering the country aged eight or nine.

London’s Metropolitan Police said it was “assessing” the allegation that Farah was trafficked after his mother sent him away to escape civil war in their native Somalia.

Asked in a follow-up interview on BBC radio how he felt about the government’s response, Farah said: “I feel relieved: this is my country.

“No child wants to be in that situation. I had that choice made for me,” he said.

“And I’m just grateful (for) every chance I got in Britain and… proud to represent my country the way I did, because that’s all I could do, in my control. I had no control when I was younger.”

Farah was later helped to obtain UK citizenship by his physical education teacher at school, Alan Watkinson, while still using the assumed name Mohamed Farah given to him by a woman who trafficked him to Britain.

Source The Guardian Nigeria

Posted July 13, 2022

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