Three Pakistani brothers sexually assault two young boys in UK mosque

Rating Justification

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a reverse image search to find news reports on the incident.

Posts from users on social media platform X since August 30, 2025, were claiming that three Pakistani brothers sexually assaulted two boys in a mosque in the United Kingdom, among various other sexual crimes. However, the perpetrators were actually of Bangladeshi origin.

In Jan 2025, billionaire Elon Musk entered a contentious debate surrounding the term “Asian grooming gangs”, with his remarks sparking concerns of perpetuating harmful anti-Pakistani stereotypes. His remarks, seen as Islamophobic and targeting the British-Pakistani community, drew condemnation from Pakistan’s Foreign Office. The tech tycoon has continued to perpetuate similar claims since amid the issue of grooming gangs in the United Kingdom.

HOW IT STARTED

On Aug 30, an account that posts right-wing anti-immigrant material shared a post on X with a photo collage of three men with the following caption: “Pakistani Miah brothers raped two seven-year-old boys in a mosque. They drugged and prostituted 30 underage school girls. They cut off the toes of two girls who tried to escape. The court found a total of 62 crimes. This happened in Leeds, UK. Illegal immigration continues to destroy UK.”

The post provided no other context or details such as the date of the alleged occurrence or a source to a news report.

It gained 49.7 million views and 28,000 reshares.

Among those reshares was one by tech tycoon Musk, who said: “I don’t even know what to say anymore.”

His post gained 45.2m views and 82,000 reshares.

The same claim and post was widely shared by other anti-immigrant accounts as can be seen here, here, here, here and here.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the matter amid the recent controversy in the United Kingdom over grooming gangs.

A reverse image search yielded a news report dated February 22, 2025, from leading Bangladeshi media outlet Dhaka Tribune with the following title: “3 Bangladeshi origin brothers sentenced for sexually abusing children in UK”.

As per the report, the three Miah brothers were of Bangladeshi origin and sentenced to different terms for sexual offences against children in Leeds and Barrow-in-Furness between 1996 and 2010.

They were originally convicted in October 2024, as reported by the BBC as well.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: FALSE

The viral claim that three Pakistani brothers sexually assaulted two boys in the UK, among many other crimes, is false.

The perpetrators were of Bangladeshi origin and were sentenced in February 2025.

Evidence and References

Feb 22, 2025, Dhaka Tribune news report:
https://www.dhakatribune.com/world/europe/374410/3-bangladeshi-origin-brothers-sentenced-for

Oct 30, 2024, BBC news report:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz0mrz5ln3eo