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Provost and Vice-Principal, Deputy Pro-Chancellor
graduates, graduands, and guests,
before us today stands one who having made more than 500,
media appearances in the past five years, made countless speaking presentations,
and written widely on aspects of the experience and
realities of justice in this country and elsewhere
is probably one of the best known lawyers in the land
and deservedly so, for Nazir Afzal
is someone who has probably done more than any
to lift the lid and raise the profile of those grossly
under-reported little discussed largely invisible
but all too harmful crimes of violence against women and girls,
of forced marriage, so-called honour crimes,
and FGM. All the more remarkable is the fact that Nazir Afzal
is not the lead spokesperson for legal rights charity,
no head of a leading chamber a barristers specializing in such
criminal casework,
but a public servant within the Crown Prosecution Service
of England and Wales, and this is an organization which from its formation
has tended to shun the headlines
and to operate with a distinctly low public profile
it's an organization whose office is at mostly being discreetly located
out of the public gaze in which, when pressed to provide comment on its
decisions
or on the outcomes of court cases that is prosecuted,
is usually resorted to the short factual
anonymous and suitably diplomatic civil service type response.
But Nazir Afzal has done it rather differently
and he has prosecuted more than a few cases
of notoriety and cases where there has been strong
public interest including the stalker of Diana Princess of Wales
in 1996, the honour killing of Samaira Nazir in 2005,
the Rochdale sex trafficking case in 2012,
and most recently the trial of former BBC presenter Stuart Hall.
He's even conducted a prosecution in front of her Majesty the Queen in 2002,
the only time that her Majesty has been in a British courtroom,
this pinhead jubilee year when she was invited to the Royal Courts of Justice
to observe a case being heard before the Lord Chief Justice no less
afterwards Nazir was introduced to the royal guest and have the opportunity
to discuss the finer points at the case with her majesty.
And I'm delighted to say that Nazir
is a graduate of this University's School of Law and has therefore been
in this Great Hall before. It's an absolute pleasure
to welcome him back and also to his mother
and two brothers to share
in Nazir's very special day. Nazir's story is a remarkable one
having risen to the rank of regional chief prosecutor for the North West
and being the most senior Muslim in this service from the modest beginnings
of a family newly arrived in Birmingham from the lawless
Northwest Frontier of Pakistan. That was just a year before Nazir's
birth in 1962.
His father having served as a caterer for the British Army
in his native country. Nazir,
one of six children, was also the first in the family to attend school
at Marlborough Junior School in Small Heath where sadly
but not untypical of the times he had to endure much bullying and racial abuse,
he recalls coming home and hiding is torn clothing from his parents because he
didn't want them to know
what was going on, but he was clearly a very bright pupil
passing his 11-plus and progressing to Waverly Grammar School in the same
locality
where he did very well culminating in his candidature
for 6 A-levels including physics chemistry pure maths and statistics.
His horizons have overalls quite local
and so although he included London University on his UCAS form
he never seriously imagined his higher education bean other
than in Birmingham. His parents wanted him to be a doctor
and in a few minutes he will
but he dutifully applied for Medicine at Birmingham
but actually he was far more attracted to law
when the offer came he had no hesitation in accepting his place in the Faculty of
Law here at Birmingham.
And he enjoyed the next four years immensely
the first year lodging in High Hall and then in rented flats in Selly
Oak.
He valued his legal studies and recalls with appreciation the stimulating
courses he took
particularly on criminal justice and criminal law provided by Professor Roger
Leng
these days at Warwick, John Baldwin now Emeritus Professor,
Keith Uff now Visiting Lecturer in residence,
and our own presenter Professor Andrew Sanders.
But he was also much attracted to the life in the Guild of Students and into the student
politics that period.
He participated in a number of student demonstrations against the higher
education policies
of the government at the time, including a protest day in London outside
parliament.
In his second year he was successful in being elected
to the office of Vice-President for the Guild which provided him with a sabbatical
year
from his law studies and this he greatly enjoyed
and realised he wanted something rather more in his future career than simply
being a legal practitioner, something that would have involved working in the
public arena
and in developing up a strong personal profile as well.
On the downside at Birmingham he has told me he had twice he had a near-death
experience during his student days
first when he choked or nearly choked on an onion bhaji
that he was consuming in Selly Oak High Street late one Saturday night
probably the less said about that incident the better
the second however happened in his vice-presidential year
when he played a leading part in a student demonstration about funding cuts
the plan was to parade a coffin symbolizing the death
education around the central campus,
Nazir offered to be the one who would lie in the lidless coffin to be transported
solemnly
at head height by a group of colleagues acting as his pallbearers,
and the cortege made its way across University Square
then up the steps to the library where the coffin was lifted
up into a near vertical position for the benefit to the crowd below
Nasir still remembers with horror his realisation that he was now in
mortal danger been pitched out of his sarcophagus
and down the 20 or so foot drop to the heartbreak
walkway below, happily his cries were heard just in time
and the coffin was drawn back to safety. Life became a little calmer in his final year,
as he completed his degree and then proceed to Guildford Law School for
a further year of study
now for his law society finals, but then he returned to Birmingham for articles
with the firm Glaisyers
during which his experience of undertaking probate work
and Company Law further his appreciation that the fact that what he really was
interested in
was criminal case work by now he was also attracted to the idea of working in London
so when you happen to see an advert for a job in the Crown Prosecution Service
in the capital
prosecuting both street and whole story road Magistrates Court
he saw the opportunity and his future and the role suits him very well
with the steady stream of mundane petty crime cases interspersed with the
excitement of the court
appearances by more than a few high-profile
and celebrity defendants all adding to the human interest aspects of his
criminal prosecution work,
indeed he began to gain something of a reputation for himself as a prosecutor
with the neck of identifying and focusing in his prosecutions
on aspects that others have perhaps not spotted althought sufficiently
relevant,
for example when he was presented with the challenge of prosecuting a case of gross
indecency,
have a couple accused of having sex on a train, he chose to draw attention to the
evidence that the defendant attended their business by lighting up a
cigarette
thereby committing a further offence that of smoking
on a non-smoking compartment
and this indeed was a case that later provided the storyline for TV sketch by
Victoria Wood
perhaps some of you have seen it.
Nazir also successfully prosecuted the case involving the very first
ear print left by the defendant as he listened for signs of occupancy
of the dwelling he was about to burgle,
and there was, as mentioned, the much-publicised suitcase of the stalker
of Diana Princess of Wales, the accused been a German surgeon Klaus Wagner
but against whom the charges were dropped by Nazir on grounds that the
psychiatric assessments
showed him to be deluded and needing medical help.
He was also one of the first of the prosecuting system to be made a Crown
Court Advocate able to prosecute cases in the higher courts
and he was quickly promoted to assistant chief for CBS West London
and it was here that he also began to focus his attentions on aspects of
criminal activity
that he saw as too often escaping justice.
He organised a conference for example on crime in sport
the first of its kind highlighting drug taking and substance misuse,
he did similarly for airport crime and for stalking,
and he was also moved to take action to raise the profile of the shockingly low
reporting and prosecution rates for violence against women and girls
the dearth of prosecutions for forced marriages,
for so-called honour base violence and killings and the appalling prevalence
among some communities of
the practice of female genital mutilation.
Without a doubt the attention and profile at last being given to such crimes
owes much dto Nazir brave stones, to his preparedness to set precedents
and not to surrender to the pressures of political correctness
or fears of appearing racist, instead he is recognized the need for fundamental
culture change in the criminal justice sector
to raise public confidence that the reporting of such victimisation
is indeed worthwhile and will simply not
result in additional stress or further personal harm.
His speaking out and writing about crimes of violence particularly as I say
against women and girls have also done much to make the Crown Prosecution
Service
as an organization more open and publicly engaging.
In 2010 he was promoted again, now to Chief Prosecutor for the North West
region of England and Wales,
one of thirteen regional directorships and the largest outside London,
and here he's continued his mission to raise the profile in the CPS
and to champion more accertively the plight and needs of victims of crime.
Visibility is a key objective for him and he has devoted much time to getting
out and about in his region
presenting himself in his messages and building stronger public accountability.
In the past five years he's spoken on radio and television programs repeatedly
he also undertakes a considerable amount of community and charitable work
serving as a Trustee in several charities including Wayout Dreams
Foundation
and the Henna foundation. He chairs the Prince of Wales's Mosaic
Trust in the Northwest and he is a founding trustee at the Centre for Muslim Affairs.
He's also a tutor for Common Purpose and the Young Foundations
offering development programs for the country's emerging leaders
and he acts as an ambassador for the Kids Taskforce.
And he's developed a storyline for DVD for children and young people on
extremism and faith
and on bullying and youth crime and this has gone out to every secondary school in
the region
with guidance for teachers on how they might facilitate
people discussions. Provost and Vice-Principal
such work with local communities as well as his contribution within the Crown
Prosecution Service
was recognized in the award in OBE in 2005 New Year's Honours List.
Two years later he was nominated both as CPS Public Servant to the Year
and as Legal Personality of the Year by the Society of Asian Lawyers.
He's also listed in the Muslim Power 100 List as one of the most influential
and leading Muslims in the UK
and it seems entirely fitting therefore that this great University,
his University, in the city of his childhood
should add to this CV of distinction by recognising his exceptional contribution
to the practice of law and justice through the award of
an honorary degree today. So to you and to the University I present
Nazir Afzal deemed worthy to be awarded the degree
of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.
By virtue of my authority as Provost and Vice-Proncipal
I deem you, I declare you Doctor of Laws at the University
of Birmingham honoris causa.
I didn't recognize that person. Deputy Pro-Chancellor, Provost
and Vice-Principal, Pro Vice-Chancellor, graduates, graduands,
guests, parents, mom
absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words to you,
absolute grateful to Professor Rain and others who have
said some amazingly kind words about me and
the work that I have been doing. It is phenomenal to be able to come back to
the University I graduated from 27 years ago, I sat
not far from where you're sitting, I'm pretty sure, my mother was here that, my
father has passed now was here,
we had a phenomenal day I've gotten all about it until I came back today
and it is the greatest day of your life
to now, it gets better.
My journey you've heard a great deal fro Professor Rain,
about my journey yes we came from the northwest frontier of Pakistan
the traditional and tribalistic part of Pakistan, they came here, I was born in
Birmingham.
I was given the opportunities that they lacked,
we had, you can imagine that's the part of the world where Malala was shot in the head
because she wanted an education, it's not
a place where you would have the opportunities that my father and mother felt
I should have, we should have in this country, you often hear about
a child that is the first in their family to go to University, I was pretty
much the first
in my family to go to school and when I was being brought up as you've just
heard in the sixties and seventies
the racism was overt it was only because we're different it wasn't
as sophisticated as it is now sadly but it was overt, I remember being
racially abused often as you could possibly imagine I remember going up to
to my bullies and say that sticks and stones may be break my bones but your
words will not hurt me and it worked
because from that it was only ever sticks and stones and not far from here,
on Bristol Road, after when I was at university I was beaten up by
there's a common theme here beaten up by three guys
who used my head as a football, more Brazil than Germany which is why I did tell
the tale but
but to my great shame I didn't do anything about it, I felt somehow that
it was something I should live with, should cope with, my father
and mother, god bless then, they thought we are just visitors here and this is what
visitors do, we don't make a fuss.
Absolutely wrong that's what I've learnt
and what I hope the victims and witnesses have learnt is that you need to
make a fuss, you need to challenge that kind of behaviour
in order for somebody to act differently and you mentioned John,
the Sport Crime Conference, I talked in that conference
publicly on Sky and all the news channels about how behaviours on the pitch
impact on spectators, impact on the wider society, and I got more hate mail that you can
imagine
I remember one particular "Dear Mister Azfal, we English invented football
please go back to woll land", I'm looking a globe and I could not find woll land
anywhere.
I found his name and address on the letter though
and I did something about it, that's what it's about, if you don't stand up to
those who want to control you
and exert power over you then they win, and my message to you and my mess to
all victims and witnesses of the last
15-20 years is you must stand up, you are the most courageous people on the earth,
after the grooming case, people said to me, you are really courageous to prosecute
this case, I wasn't
the women and young girls who gave evidence they were the courageous ones,
I just facilitated their
ability to give that evidence and that was another example that case
and the enormous fury that has caused, the amount of racial abuse I got,
I am not on Twitter anymore so don't follow me but you know the amount of
racial abuse I got
was all about the narrative the narrative is that all Asians in large
are the same
yet the man who brought them to justice was a minority
so they couldn't, it damaged their narrative
they were desperate to have a go at me, and they did, they called,
thousands of letters went everywhere, including the President of the United States
calling for me to be sacked and deported. I come from
Small Heath in Birmingham I don't want to go back there,
right, but we made the point
my message to you graduates and graduands is
it's tough and gets tougher and it's much tougher now than it's ever been
quite frankly
in terms of being able to get on the job ladder et cetera et cetera
the reality though is that you know success is not a result of spontaneous
combustion you have to set yourself on fire
you have to go that extra mile you got to work 24 hours a day seven days a week
because that's the only way that people are going to notice that you are making a difference
and yes you must make a difference no bureaucracy on the world has changed
anything its people the change things and you individually
will change things I'll leave you one final story, my
journey is big because victims come to talk to me about their experience.
A woman who I saw several years ago now I noticed that her wedding ring was not on
her wedding finger
he was on the opposite hand and the opposite finger I remember asking her why
she was wearing the ring on that finger and she said it's because they forced me
to marry the wrong man
that was her protest that was her protest because she had no voice
therefore it was my duty and everyone else duty
to be her voice. I'm absolutely delighted that I've been honoured in this way,
I'm grateful for the University they gave me my start I have learnt
a great deal from what you taught me Andrew and others
I have forgotten most of it, the point however is that you taught me how
to think
spoon feeding only teaches you the shape of the spoon,
you gave me the opportunity to learn and teach myself
and then share that with the people that I work with, my son said to me
why do racists hate you for no reason
I said I want to give them a reason. Thank you.