Sir Mo Farah's 'Adoptive' Brother Speaks Out on Child Trafficking Revelation
The brother who grew up alongside Sir Mo Farah has expressed profound heartbreak after watching the Olympic champion reveal he was trafficked to the United Kingdom as a child. Ahmed Farah, who considered Mo his sibling for years, described the emotional impact of hearing Mo's story during a recent episode of I'm A Celebrity All Stars.
A Childhood Built on Deception
Sir Mo Farah, originally named Hussein Abdi Kahin, was brought to England in 1993 at age ten by Ahmed's mother, Nimco Ateye. He arrived using documents bearing the stolen identity of another child named Mohammed Farah. During the television programme, Mo recounted how he believed he was traveling to join relatives in Holland, only to discover he had been brought to the UK under false pretences.
'I was child-trafficked to the UK,' Mo told his campmates, including Scarlett Moffatt and Ashley Roberts. 'The lady... it was to do chores and look after her kids.' His account reduced several celebrities to tears, with Moffatt describing it as 'horrific'.
Brother's Perspective: Good Intentions Amid Trauma
Ahmed Farah, who was just three years old when he traveled to London with Mo, has now shared his reaction to the revelations. 'I was dumbfounded,' he told The Sun. 'I can see why the other celebrities were in tears because what he described was horrendous. I've always seen Mo as my big brother and to hear him talk about it was really upsetting.'
Despite the distressing nature of Mo's account, Ahmed insists their mother acted with benevolent motives. 'My mum is the one that brought him to the UK, but I can assure you that she acted with the best of intentions,' he explained. 'I was never told he was our servant or anything. I'm sure he had chores to do around the house, but we all did.'
Ahmed emphasized that his mother simply wanted to 'help' Mo and provide him with better opportunities than were available in war-torn Somalia.
Complex Family History and Separation
The brothers' journey to England followed a complicated immigration process. Ahmed's father, Muktar, had been granted asylum in the UK, enabling the family to apply for reunification visas. When the actual Mohamed Farah could not travel for unknown reasons, his documents were given to Hussein, who subsequently became known as Mo Farah.
Ahmed discovered around age eleven that he and Mo were not biologically related, but he continued to view him as an older brother. 'I looked up to Mo,' he recalled, maintaining that familial bond despite the revelation.
Mo Farah's Painful Truth and Aftermath
Sir Mo Farah first publicly disclosed his true background in the BBC documentary The Real Mo Farah, where he detailed being smuggled into Britain and spending years in domestic servitude. His father had been killed in Somalia's civil war when Mo was four, leaving his mother struggling to care for eight children.
Since sharing his story, Mo has received widespread praise for his courage in revealing the painful truth about his childhood. In a compassionate gesture, he wrote a letter last November supporting the real Mohamed Farah's efforts to reunite with his family after being stranded in Africa for over three decades due to the identity mix-up.
Ahmed's Own Troubled Path
Ahmed Farah's life took a dramatically different turn from his famous brother's. In 2011, he was imprisoned for four-and-a-half years for false imprisonment related to a knife raid in Southall, west London. After his release in 2014, British authorities detained him and initiated deportation proceedings because he was not a British citizen.
In 2016, Ahmed was deported to Somalia, where he struggled to adapt after spending most of his life in London. 'I made a huge mistake, but why should I be double punished for something I've done?' he told the Sunday Mirror in 2019. 'It's like they're saying 'Do the prison time but also do extra detention and be deported'.'
Ahmed stated he had not spoken to Mo for a decade at that point and wondered whether his brother's celebrity status influenced his deportation. Despite their separation and different paths, he expressed pride in Mo's achievements and insisted Mo had no involvement in his deportation proceedings.
The brothers' stories reveal the complex human dimensions behind immigration narratives, blending trauma, family bonds, and divergent destinies stemming from a single childhood journey.
