The Somali community in the Woolwich area is in deep shock after the death of a 22-year-old Somali, Nuur Saeed, after an ‘operation’ by Woolwich police. The police say that on 10 January Nuur was in a house at which they executed a search warrant in Plumstead. ‘At 5pm Mr Saeed was found to be
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Vigil for Bereket Yohannes at Harmondsworth
On a bitterly cold Sunday morning last week, over eighty people gathered outside Harmondsworth removal centre for a vigil in memory of 26-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker, Bereket Yohannes, who was found hanged in a shower block at Harmondsworth on 19 January. Bereket’s is the eighth asylum seeker to take his own life in an immigration
Better care for asylum seekers with HIV
The National AIDS Trust (NAT) has welcomed a decision by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) to amend its policy on the dispersal of asylum seekers with healthcare needs. In a recent report, NAT highlights the problem that dispersal brings in terms of healthcare needs of asylum seekers with HIV and welcome the December 2005
Return to Kirkuk
In this interview, Karzan Sherabayani, a Kurdish actor and filmmaker, says why he returned to the Kurdish region of Iraq to make his latest film and what he and other Iraqi Kurds think about the recent forced deportations to Iraq. Tim: When you made Karzan’s Brothers – Escape from the Safe Haven in the mid-1990s,
Coalition against deportations to Iraq
On 11 January 2006, a coalition was formed to stop forced deportations of Iraqi and Kurdish asylum seekers to Iraq. The group included the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, Green Party, National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers, Campaign Against Criminalising Communities, Organisation of Kurdish Women-Britain and the Campaign to Stop Deportation
Racial profiling and anti-terror stop and search
Amid growing public concern about stop and search powers under terror laws and the challenge by Liberty in the High Court over their misuse, Arun Kundnani examines some of the key issues in the debate. The new powers introduced under the Terrorism Act Under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984) stops could only be
‘Life Without Fear’
A new campaign for the rights of Iranian asylum seekers in the UK has been launched. The International Federation of Iranian Refugees in the UK has launched a campaign against the British government’s policy of deporting asylum seekers to Iran. The organisation believes that Iran is unsafe for return and an immediate stop should be
‘My life doesn’t belong to me anymore’
Innocent Nkung, a 35-year-old asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), suffered such homophobic and political persecution that he had to flee the DRC and is now fighting to stay in the UK after his asylum claim was refused. Innocent, who has a background in campaigning on human rights issues had been arrested
World stage involved in anti-deportation drama
A campaign to save a mother and her two children from deportation has broadened its appeal by seeking support on an international scale and enlisting the help of Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh. Samina Altaf and her two children, Aqsa, 12 and Sumama, 6, fled their native Pakistan following incidences of domestic violence and sought
Detainees punished for protesting after suicide
Asylum detainees at Harmondsworth immigration removal centre have been punished for protesting against conditions there after the suicide of an Eritrean asylum seeker. On 19 January 2006, Bereket Yohannes, a 26-year-old Eritrean asylum seeker was found hanged in a shower block at Harmondsworth – the first death of a detained asylum seeker this year. According