Concerns are being raised by UK NGOs about the possible use of excessive force during deportations. A witness to an attempted deportation describes the humiliation and distress she saw. On, 29 April 2004, just two days before ten new states, including Lithuania, joined the EU, British photographer, Jess Hurd, on her way to Lithuania to
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What happens to those who die on Britain’s borders?
The body of an Iraqi would-be asylum seeker who died trying to enter Britain in 2001 has been left in a mortuary for almost three years because there are no funds to pay for its return. Omid Jamil Ali was born to a poor family in rural Kurdistan in 1980. Like many others, his family
Another asylum seeker takes own life
On 18 May 2004, 27-year-old Afghan asylum seeker Zekria Ghulam Mohammed was found dead at his flat in the Dennistoun area of Glasgow. Zekria apparently took his own life and was found by a friend who had to break the door down to gain entry to the flat. Zekria, who had been living in Scotland
Resource for opposing deportations
The National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) has produced a guide to help individuals, families and supporters who are thinking of starting a campaign. Since it was established in 1995, NCADC has supported 115 successful campaigns against deportation. Its approach is simple: it gives advice and guidance to help families and individuals win widespread support
The impact of the Asylum Bill
A leading immigration barrister spoke at a recent meeting of the Law Centres’ Federation on the likely impact of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Bill. “The steady stream of Asylum Acts continues: 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002 and soon, 2004. The Asylum Bill, likely to become law within weeks, is set to drive
Racist murder in Ashford, Kent
Two White men have been charged with the murder of Bapishankar Kathirgamanathan, a 24-year-old Sri Lankan-born restaurant worker. Kathirgamanathan had been walking home across a footbridge, on 22 April 2004, when he was assaulted in what police are regarding as a racially-motivated attack. During the attack, Kathirgamanathan sustained severe head injuries and died two weeks
Hope in the face of despair
A new book for those involved in social work attempts to confront the challenges thrown up by working with migrants and asylum seekers within a framework of racism and exclusion. Social workers increasingly have policing and gatekeeping roles imposed on them in both the statutory and voluntary sectors. What then of the professional imperative to
Justice for Jay Abatan – ‘an uphill struggle’
The family of Jay Abatan, a Black man who was murdered in Brighton in 1999, are still waiting to see the report into Sussex Police’s failed investigation into his death. On 17 May 2004, Peter Bottomley MP, Jay’s family and lawyers will meet representatives of the new Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to discuss the
Mubarek family win inquiry into Zahid’s murder
After years of campaigning by the Mubarek family, David Blunkett has announced that a judicial inquiry will be held into the racist murder of Zahid Mubarek at Feltham Young Offenders Institute. The inquiry will investigate and report to the Home Secretary on Zahid’s death and the events leading up to the attack on him, and
Britain locks up twenty-four asylum children
A Home Office minister has revealed that the number of children held in Dungavel and Oakington detention centres has risen from ten at the end of last year to twenty-four today. Baroness Scotland of Asthal, a Home Office minister, has stated that Dungavel detention centre, in Lanarkshire, currently holds six families, with ten children, four