Two men, deported to Algeria from the UK over the weekend, have failed to contact their families on their return. Concern about the men is now mounting after security services in Algeria confirmed that they had arrived, were being held in custody, but gave no other details. The two men, known just as ‘I’ and
News Service
A day in the death of an asylum seeker
IRR News reports on the recent inquest into the death of an Ethiopian asylum seeker found hanged in September 2004, just hours after being taken to hospital by friends because he had suicidal feelings. Almost once a month in the UK, an asylum seeker, wracked with anxiety about the possibility of being returned and worn
Demands for better asylum seeker mental health care
A new report has been published by the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health (CPPIH) on the provision of mental health services to asylum seekers and refugees in London, the most ‘vulnerable and socially excluded people in our society’. The research for the report, Unheard Voices- listening to the views of asylum seekers
Poems as vehicles for change
Lightning of Your Eyes, an exciting anthology of new and selected poems by committed writer and educationalist Chris Searle, has just been published. Chris Searle’s poetry is about words. It is words, he believes, that challenge the status quo, words which educate across geographical boundaries and words which can ultimately act as catalysts for change.
New hope for Hassan family
An investigative journalist, who was forced to flee from Pakistan after uncovering and publicising details of official corruption, has lodged a fresh asylum claim to stay in the UK. Mansoor Hassan and his family, who are currently living in Manchester, fled from Pakistan in 2002, after alleged incidences of abuse and threats. Mansoor’s journalistic exposés
Algerians desperate to leave
Amid all the furore about foreign ex-prisoners being released rather that deported, it is ironic that four Algerians desperate to leave the UK, are still being held in Long Lartin prison. We reproduce below two letters from Algerians (held under anti-terror laws) who have volunteered to return to Algeria because of the conditions and uncertainty
Highlighting the mental health needs of child asylum seekers and refugees
An expert in child and adolescent psychiatry has called for agencies to be more active in meeting the mental health needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee adolescents. On 17 May, Dr Matthew Hodes, Senior Lecturer in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Imperial College, London, spoke at a meeting of the Association for Child and Adolescent
Britain’s shame: from multiculturalism to nativism
As every step that Blair takes to ‘cohere’ the nation is at the expense of ethnic minorities, and Muslims in particular, IRR News talked to A. Sivanandan about how he saw the integration debate. IRR News: The concept of integration is becoming a vexed one across Europe and even in the UK Blair and his
In memory of Manuel Bravo
A new project has been established in Leeds in memory of Manuel Bravo, an Angolan asylum seeker, who was found hanged in Yarl’s Wood removal centre on 15 September 2005, where he was detained with his 13-year-old son pending deportation. Before his death, Manuel had settled in Leeds and regularly attended church with his family.
18-month sentence for manslaughter of Pakistani man
Last week, a 17-year-old youth, Mardell Pennant, was sentenced to 18 months’ detention and training order in a young offenders’ institute after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of Kamal Raza Butt in a joint enterprise with another youth, against whom charges were dropped. The murder of the Pakistani man, in July 2005, took place just