Party killer behind bars

JAILED . . . Haashim Us Salaam

Community leader’s son jailed for stabbing teenager

THE son of an Oldham community leader has been jailed for manslaughter after admitting stabbing a teenager to death at an Eid party.

Haashim Us Salaam (21), of Werneth Hall Road, Oldham, was jailed for five years and three months at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square, yesterday.

Salaam is the son of Fazal Rahim, well known and well regarded for his community cohesion work with Oldham Interfaith Forum.

Salaam, who changed his name from Shahab Rahim, was originally charged with murdering Zhen Asghar (18), of Bolton, but the prosecution accepted his guilty plea to manslaughter in the face of evidence that he did not intend to kill the victim.

The incident happened on September 20, last year when two groups of young Asian men were celebrating Eid at hired flats in Dantzic Street, Manchester.

A number of parties went on at different flats in the building and people from the two groups initially got on well. Celebrations continued into the early hours and an argument broke out between the men.

At about 7.45am, one group of men, including Zhen Asghar, went to the apartment in which some of the other men were staying. Some had armed themselves with bottles and sticks.

A fight broke out, bottles were thrown and items in the flat were smashed.

The group began to leave and Salaam came out of the bedroom, blocking Zhen’s exit from the flat.

Zhen and Salaam were seen fighting and Salaam holding a knife. Zhen walked out on to the landing and told his friends they should get out because he had been stabbed.

The emergency services were called and Zhen started walking down the stairs but collapsed.

He died in hospital two days later from a single stab wound to the thigh. The blade had penetrated his femoral artery.

Detective Chief Inspector Jon Chadwick, from Greater Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team, said: “It is a tragedy that a night which should have been memorable for all the right reasons resulted in the loss of a young life like this.”

Mr Rahim declined to talk about the case and said he did not know why his son had changed his name.