Politician threatened over her SAS claims

AZI AHMED

AN OLDHAM-born and educated ex-Tory parliamentary candidate says she fears for her life, after receiving abuse online after a story casting doubts over her bid to join the SAS.

Azi (Asma) Ahmed, from Hollins, stood for the Conservative Party in Rochdale in 2015's General Election but did not win.

She chronicled her attempt to join the 21 SAS, the reserve regiment of the unit, in her book Worlds Apart: A Muslim Girl with the SAS.

But last month, Russia Today, a TV network financed by Vladimir Putin's government, published an article questioning Ms Ahmed's version of events.

The network cast doubt on her claims, quoting a former paratrooper, Alfie Usher, who said SAS sources had told him Ms Ahmed had "at most" been put through a pre-training "beat-up course", which he described as "selection lite".

The article triggered a flood of abuse on social media that made Ms Ahmed fear for her life.

Ms Ahmed said: "They included allegations that I lied about my training, demanded a public apology, accused me of stealing from the Army. They [called] me a lying whore, scum, fraudster.

"I eventually stopped reading and mechanically pressed delete as they came in."

The systematic, well-orchestrated attack forced her to close down her Facebook, Twitter and email accounts. She also says her website was hacked.

As a result of the abuse, the Conservative Party called her into a meeting to respond to the allegations, while her public speaking engagements have dried up.

Ms Ahmed denies lying about her training and says the military pulled the plug on what had been an experiment to see if women could complete the SAS training course.

She also accused the Kremlin of ordering the attack on her to discredit Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon.

The article appeared on the same day Sir Michael - whom she introduced at last year's Tory conference - announced a crackdown on Russian cyber attacks.

"I believe the Russians are behind the attacks, working in cahoots with former British soldiers," Ms Ahmed went on to say.

"My training was 16 years ago. So why now and why so nasty? I believe the Russians would not have published if I hadn't introduced Sir Michael, and it must have been partly to try to embarrass him.

"My website blog was hacked, which seems out of character for normal internet trolls. What hurt me most was that they accused me of profiting from the training.

"But proceeds from my book go to a veteran charity, Care After Combat. The book did not sensationalise 21 SAS, but tried to show the world that the British Army is a forward thinking establishment.

"It's not racist or sexist. I just wanted to promote diversity in the Army and bring back British identity through my political work."

Ms Ahmed, who now lives in London, wrote her tell-all book in 2015, in which she revealed that she hid the fact that she joined the SAS from her family in Oldham.

She grew up in Hollins Road with her devout Pakistani, Muslim parents as well as an older sister and three older brothers.

Her parents, originally from the Punjab province, ran a kebab shop next door to their home.