British Olympic star Sir Mo Farah has said he continues to live with the "sadness and trauma" of being trafficked to the UK as a child to work as a slave.
The four-time Olympic champion recalls being taken away from his family in Djibouti by a woman he had never met and told he was to live with relatives in the UK.
But when he arrived in the UK, the woman told him he was no longer to be called by his birth name Hussein Abdi Kahin and was now Mohammed Farah.
"When I came with that woman, I was told your name is not Hussein it's Mohammed," he told BBC Radio Four.
"Coming through the airport, she was saying 'Mohammed, Mohammed, Mohammed'. I was just being told constantly 'remember that, remember that and that is all'."
He had been given a list of contacts from his family, but the woman ripped it up in front of him and he was forced to live with her and work as a slave looking after her children.
"When I was leaving, all my family had their details written down for me," Sir Mo said, before a documentary about his true identity, The Real Mo Farah, was broadcast on BBC iPlayer at 6am UK time and at 9pm on BBC One on Wednesday.
"Then, right in front of me, the lady took it off me and ripped it up and said 'don't say anything, this is it'. Pretty early on I knew my life would be different living with that lady.
"I wasn't allowed to play with other kids, I was not allowed to be myself, I had to cook, clean, change diapers.
"It was tough for me and all I ever wanted as a kid was to have my parents or someone who cared for me. Early on I knew that no one was going to be there for me, so I learnt to block it out. I still feel sadness and trauma."
London's Metropolitan Police has said it was assessing the allegation that Sir Mo was trafficked, after his mother sent him away to escape civil war in their native Somalia.
His father was killed in civil unrest when Sir Mo was 4 and his mother, Aisha, and two brothers lived in the breakaway state of Somaliland.
He was encouraged to speak out now by his wife and children — one shares his real birth name Hussein — after burying the truth for decades.
"My reaction was heartbreak and sadness for him," his wife Tania told the BBC.
"I just pictured nine-year-old Mo being so helpless and vulnerable and I was so angry at the people who did that too him and put him through that. I do not know how anyone can live with themselves.
"I knew he was always carrying that hurt and pain and that gave him that edge and driving force to go on to achieve great things."
Sir Mo, 39, revealed his suffering after asking his PE teacher, Alan Watkinson, for help.
He confided in Mr Watkinson about his true identity, his background, and the family he was being forced to work for. He later gained UK citizenship, but under his new name.
"Alan did go to social services. We did report it, we did tell them exactly what was my name ... so we went through the right channels, but I don't know why nothing was ever done," he said.
The British Home Office has ruled out taking any action against Sir Mo over his citizenship status.
"He is a sporting hero, he is an inspiration to people across the country," a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
"It is a shocking reminder of the horrors that people face when they are trafficked. And we must continue to clamp down on these criminals who take advantage of vulnerable people."
Sir Mo told the BBC he was not in touch with the woman who forced him into slavery — and said he "does not want to be".
Nadhim Zahawi, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, told LBC that the family who trafficked Sir Mo should only be investigated if the athlete wished it.
"If Mo Farah doesn't want it investigated, then it shouldn't be," he told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast.
"I think we need to talk to Mo Farah because he is a great man, he's been through an extraordinary life, and what a harrowing tale.
"I thought my journey from an immigrant boy from Baghdad to this great country of ours was an extraordinary story, but what he has had to endure, in my view, should make him the priority for all of us.
"The police need to talk to Sir Mo Farah first before they do anything else."
The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
Specs
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Torque: 1075Nm
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
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Power: 819hp
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Brief scoreline
Switzerland 0
England 0
Result: England win 6-5 on penalties
Man of the Match: Trent Alexander-Arnold (England)
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
How tumultuous protests grew
- A fuel tax protest by French drivers appealed to wider anti-government sentiment
- Unlike previous French demonstrations there was no trade union or organised movement involved
- Demonstrators responded to online petitions and flooded squares to block traffic
- At its height there were almost 300,000 on the streets in support
- Named after the high visibility jackets that drivers must keep in cars
- Clashes soon turned violent as thousands fought with police at cordons
- An estimated two dozen people lost eyes and many others were admitted to hospital
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
More coverage from the Future Forum
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Plan to boost public schools
A major shake-up of government-run schools was rolled out across the country in 2017. Known as the Emirati School Model, it placed more emphasis on maths and science while also adding practical skills to the curriculum.
It was accompanied by the promise of a Dh5 billion investment, over six years, to pay for state-of-the-art infrastructure improvements.
Aspects of the school model will be extended to international private schools, the education minister has previously suggested.
Recent developments have also included the introduction of moral education - which public and private schools both must teach - along with reform of the exams system and tougher teacher licensing requirements.
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The years Ramadan fell in May
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The five pillars of Islam
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
