At the end of January, an inquest into the death of Kurdish asylum seeker Ako Mahmood Ahmed recorded a verdict of suicide. He died after jumping from a bridge at a Coventry shopping centre in August 2004. Ako Mahmood Ahmed arrived in the UK in May 2004 and was ‘dispersed’ to Coventry in June where
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No apology as courts expose double discrimination
In December, the Law Lords found that the government disciminated against Roma in immigration controls and against foreign nationals in anti-terrorist detentions. Together, the judgments reveal a mindset that has not changed since the creation of a ‘Fortress Europe’ in the 1980s. In two landmark legal judgments, the House of Lords, Britain’s highest court, has
Deportations to Zimbabwe contested
Over 350 people, mainly Zimbabweans from across the UK, gathered outside the Home Office on a cold Saturday afternoon last week to protest at the deportation of their countrymen and women to Zimbabwe. Many of the Zimbabweans outside the Home Office were forced into exile in the UK after being detained in Zimbabwe for speaking
Detention without trial in all but name
The recent decision by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission to grant bail to three men detained without trial since December 2001 and the release of an Egyptian refugee have been met with incredulity by human rights organisations, MPs and lawyers. On Monday 31 January, campaigners and community activists gathered outside the Special Immigration Appeals Commission
Roma: the forgotten victims
Over sixty people gathered outside the Houses of Parliament today to protest against the continued ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Roma people across Europe and the British government’s policies against Roma and Travellers in this country. The event was organised to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Many of the protestors wore the
Continued unlawful detention
On 20 January 2005, over 300 people gathered outside Downing Street to protest against the continued detention without trial of eleven men under the Anti Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. Those present, many of whom were from Muslim organisations, were protesting at the government’s refusal to release those held without trial under anti-terror laws,
Returns to Algeria: inaccurate Home Office information corrected
Very quietly last week, the Country Information and Policy Unit (CIPU) of the Immigration and Nationality Department issued a Bulletin about its Algeria country information report, correcting an earlier report used in the asylum decision-making process. The Bulletin, drawing on a UNHCR paper of December 2004, pointedly states that it ‘supersedes all previous UNHCR statements
The politics of a phoney Britishness
This week the government launched its new community cohesion strategy. But there can be no community cohesion while an entire group of citizens is cast as the enemy within. The demand, since September 11, has been for a recharging of the batteries of national belonging, for the state to once again connect with the nation.
‘How can I leave? I have no legs’ – a Greek campaign for mine survivors
At least sixty overland would-be migrants to Europe have lost their lives to the landmines on Greece’s borders. A campaigner against the mines writes of one small victory in the long struggle for the rights of maimed mine survivors. As representative of a Greek campaign of the Nobel Peace Prize award-winning International Campaign to Ban
Solidarity meeting galvanises support
Hundreds of people attended a meeting in Manchester last weekend to learn how to help build support for asylum seekers. ‘I GOT PASSPORT!’ was the text message I received on Monday. The Congolese man who sent it had just won his campaign to stay in the UK. He was one of 225 people from all