A two-week civil hearing has cleared Jason Paul of any involvement in the death of fellow Afro-Caribbean Christopher Alder, who died in police custody in 1998, and has awarded him £30,500 in damages against the police. The civil hearing marked Mr Paul’s second attempt at claiming false imprisonment and malicious prosecution against Humberside Police. Mr
Issue: Race & Class
Asylum seeker suicide: ‘depressed and preoccupied’
On 20 October 2005, no family or friends were present at the inquest of Iranian asylum seeker Majid Rafieei at the Upperthorpe Medico-Legal Centre in Sheffield – which lasted just one hour. The inquest into the death of 32-year-old Majid, whose claim for political asylum had been refused but who was not scheduled to be
A Gap in the Curtains
A Gap in the Curtains is a deeply moving collection of first hand stories from asylum seekers and refugees residing in York during 2003. They come from countries as diverse as Albania, China, Iran and Turkey, desperately in search of a place of refuge, by a variety of modes of transport to a strange and
Hull: Hundreds of asylum seekers protest against racism
Around 300 asylum seekers – mostly Iraqi Kurds – gathered at Pearson Park in Hull this week to demand a stronger response from Humberside police to the racist attacks they are suffering. In the last two weeks, the number of assaults against asylum seekers and refugees in Hull has increased dramatically. A number of victims
Passer-by joins in attack on asylum seekers
Two asylum-seeking brothers in their early 30s were left with serious injuries at the weekend after confronting a group of youths harassing them outside their home. About ten youths had gathered outside the asylum seekers’ home in Hemlington, Middlesbrough, on the evening of Saturday 1 February – throwing snowballs at the house. After a while,
Four sentences reduced, eleven upheld, in appeal for Bradford rioters
In what has effectively become a test case for the sentencing of hundreds of Asians charged with participating in the Bradford riot of July 2001, the Court of Appeal has ruled that four individuals were given excessive sentences but a further eleven did deserve terms of between four and six-and-a-half years. During a two-day hearing,
Tayman Bahmani – racially murdered
Yesterday a young Iranian asylum seeker was racially murdered on the streets of Sunderland. Tayman Bahmani, aged 28, was stabbed at about 3.30pm on Peel Street, Sunderland, and died a few hours later in a local hospital. As yet no one has been arrested for the incident. He had been in the United Kingdom for
IRR expresses concern over excessive sentencing of Bradford rioters
The sentencing policy of the Bradford riot trials is meant to discipline an entire community, rather than reflect the severity of each individual’s actions. The riots that took place in Manningham, Bradford, over the weekend of 7 July, 2001, caused over a million pounds worth of damage and left hundreds of police officers injured. Over
Using the HomeBeats multimedia software with young black children
A pilot at the Khandaani Dhek Bhal project, Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, August 1998 Aims and Objectives All children need to be valued for who they are. Strong identity and feelings of self-worth are crucial in child development. Academic research on black* children’s self-esteem and self-image has shown that, from a young age, black children are