Nazir Afzal

I became interested in Mr Afzal when learning of his considerable achievements, especially in his prosecution of the Rochdale men who procured young girls. It was especially noteworthy that they, like him, were Muslims. So I followed him on Twitter and enjoyed his plain spoken but articulate tweets and his passionate topics. While of different racial heritage, I'm white, we grew up about a mile away from each other but he 15 years after me! I left my mother country almost five decades ago but stll stay in touch and the idea of his book resonated with me not just because of our tenuous links but the dramatic saubject matter and its reviews.

The book is roughly in four parts - his growing up in Brum as a Paki outsider with all those challenges; his early professional career before his rise as a prosecutor; his time as a prosecutor; and a conclusion. Overall, I was surprised that the book was a quick and non-challenging read as the language is simple, not simplistic, and in plain English without any substantial legalese jargon. Often nonfiction books fall into an opposite style which isn't always helpful.

The meat of the book, for me, was his time as a prosecutor. Mainly this segmented by the key cases our learned friend was engaged in, Each case is an important one and each has a distinct flavour of social justice, very much including womens' rights, taking on "his people" "when necessary, and the need for moulds to be shattered. Mr Afzal was front and centre in such challenges and generally I was impressed by the support he received from his managers. In describing such endeavours I felt a whiff of a mildauto-hagiography on the author's part but, if I am at all correct, it is only his just due in my opinion.

I felt sorry for Mr Afzal after reading the conclusion and I won't give why away. But I do wish hm all the best in his future whatever it may bring for him and for society and his country in general.

@nazirafzal… (plus d'informations)

As a young boy in sixties Birmingham Nazir Afzal experienced the casual racism which divides communities. After a family tragedy he chose to apply him and found his calling with the law, swapping defence work to become a prosecutor and rapidly rising in his profession. After chosing to move out of London, Nazir lands in Manchester and heads up prosecutions in a series of landmark cases.
The name Nazir Afzal is synonymous with the Rochdale Grooming Gang trials, a man who chose to believe the testimony of a group of victims who had been ignored by different teams supposedly there to protect them. This book shows that it was merely the natural extension of a career based on righting wrongs in society, particularly for those who appear to have no voice. The book pulls no punches as it describes horrific violence, domestic and criminal, and the terrible stories of some of those victims. My only criticism is that the writing can be a little clunky at times, but the passion and dedication shine through.… (plus d'informations)

By turns harrowing and uplifting, this is a memoir by British-Pakistani Nazir Afzal, former Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS, whose mission was to “give a voice to the voiceless” and engage those members of the Black and Asian community who felt a profound distrust of the British justice system. Harrowing because of the accounts he gives of the human brutality he’s seen in the cases he’s prosecuted, and uplifting to see the work so many people have put in to have crimes such as forced marriage, domestic abuse, and so-called “honour killings” brought into the light. Nazir Afzal and his team fought hard to update laws and to foster understanding of issues abounding in the British-Asian community, and to encourage those communities to place more trust in the legal system, so it's disheartening that in his afterword he feels that many of those gains are being eroded by lack of funding and diversity in the judiciary. A worthwhile read.… (plus d'informations)