An event will be held this weekend in Leicester for families and friends of those who have died in custody. IRR News spoke to Saqib Deshmukh, one of the organisers, who told us that the event will provide an opportunity for families and friends of those who have died in (police, prison or psychiatric) custody
Theme: Alternative voices on integration
Open season on Palestine protesters
Open season seems to have been declared on people protesting about Palestine and Israeli action in Gaza. In a case due to be heard in Edinburgh on Monday 29 March, five members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) face trial on charges of racially aggravated conduct. The charges follow a protest on August 2008,
Gaza Protesters Defence Campaign launched
A defence campaign is being mounted against the lengthy sentences handed to young Muslims who protested a year ago about Israel’s brutal invasion of Gaza. Twenty-two young people are in prison, convicted of public order offences, as a result of taking part in demonstrations in London in December 2008 and January 2009 following the Israeli
Segregation policy for foreign national prisoners condemned
The policy of concentrating foreign national prisoners in a small number of prisons, away from home prisoners and from their families, implemented in the early summer of 2009 (read an IRR News story: ‘Segregating foreign national prisoners’), was conducted without regard to its impact on race equality or the provision of legal advice to those
Section 44 stop and search ruled illegal
A recent landmark ruling at the European Court of Human Rights found that stop-and-search powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 were illegal. Last month, Kevin Gillan and Pennie Quinton won their case at the European Court, after the judges ruled in their favour, concluding that the stop-and-search powers[1] violated the right to respect for private
Belgium: arbitrary state power checked in prison teacher case
A Belgian court has condemned the government for the way it barred prisoners’ teacher Luk Vervaet from all Belgian prisons in August 2009. In August 2009, Luk Vervaet, a 57-year-old teacher of Dutch in Belgian prisons and activist campaigning against prison racism, poor prison conditions and double punishment, was unceremoniously barred from entering prisons, with
Experiences of Black teenagers in prison
The disproportionately high number of Black teenagers in custody is growing and this group is still more likely to face negative treatment than young White people, according to a recent report. HM Inspectorate of Prisons and the Youth Justice Board found that more than a third of the young prison population is Black or from
Deportation policy breaches human rights
The new decade has started with a rebuff for British deportation policy from the European Court of Human Rights. On 12 January 2010, the Court in Strasbourg ruled that the proposal to deport 34-year-old Abdul Waheed Khan, who had lived in the UK since the age of three, breached his rights to private and family
Lord Carlile criticises police procedures
Saleh Mamon, a member of the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), assesses a recent report on the arrest of twelve Asian students on suspicion of terrorism. Twelve Pakistani students were arrested on 8 April 2009 in the North-west following a security leak when confidential papers held by Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, the head of the
Ullah family still fighting for justice
Over a year after he died, the family of Habib Ullah are still asking how he died. The family of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah, who died whilst being arrested during a routine stop and search in a car park in High Wycombe in July 2008, have recently met with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to