Libyan sex attack cadets 'seek asylum in UK'

Three Libyan soldiers convicted of carrying out sex attacks in the UK are reportedly seeking asylum in this country.

Naji El Maarfi, Khaled El Azibi, and Mohammed Abdalsalam were each jailed for between 10 and 12 months for sexually assaulting three women last October.

At the time the trio were stationed at Bassingbourn Barracks in Cambridgeshire.

They have since been released from prison and transferred to secure immigration units, Cambridgeshire Police told the BBC.

Solicitor Richard Scorer told the broadcaster: "It's difficult enough to recover from a situation where you're set upon by a stranger and sexually assaulted.

"But if you have to do that in the knowledge that that person has now come to this country and is trying to build a life here, I think is completely wrong and unacceptable.

"It's a breach of their human rights and really we can't allow this to happen."

The cadets were among 300 troops being trained in the UK to support the newly-formed Libyan government.

The attacks included trying to kiss a woman without consent and then sexually assaulting her. El Maarfi exposed himself to one of the women.

In a separate attack, Libyan soldiers Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud and Ibrahim Abugtila were jailed for 12 years for raping a man in Cambridge while based at the same barracks.

The incidents prompted the Ministry of Defence to send the soldiers back to their home country early, ending an agreement to put 2,000 soldiers through basic infantry and junior command training in an attempt to help rebuild the troubled nation.

David Cameron previously insisted that no Libyan soldiers involved in the programme should be granted asylum after a "very small handful" made applications to stay in the UK.