INQUEST, the organisation which assists the families of those who die in custody, has been awarded the 2009 Longford Prize. The Longford Prize recognises the contribution of an individual, group or organisation working in the area of penal or social reform which has shown ‘outstanding qualities of humanity, courage, persistence and originality’ and was established
Theme: Alternative voices on integration
Death of Chinese woman at Heathrow under investigation
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has begun an investigation into the death of a Chinese woman following her release from custody after being arrested at Heathrow airport. According to an IPCC press release, in the early hours of the morning of Thursday 12 November, 35-year-old Jianping Liu was arrested as a suspected overstayer in
The EU security-industrial complex
This report is an indispensable reference manual on the threats posed to citizens by the convergence of neo-con ideology, power and technology in the name of national security. ‘A new kind of arms race, one in which all the weapons are pointing inwards’, the product of a marriage between the imperatives of profit and the
Cheryl Laws fights deportation
A young woman is facing deportation to the Philippines, miles away from her partner and young daughter. Cheryl Laws, who is 29, spends her days at Yarl’s Wood removal centre waiting to find out if she will be next. If her appeal to stay in the UK fails, her family say, she’ll be forced to
Foreign nationals and the criminal justice system
Below we reproduce an extract of the lead article from the IRR’s European Race Bulletin on the fate of foreign nationals swept up in Europe’s deportation drive. Sensationalist headlines about foreign criminals – from dark and swarthy Middle-Eastern terrorists, Albanian rapists and sexual predators from Africa, to Roma swindlers and tricksters from eastern and central
Custody death families march again
On 31 October 2009, families of those that have died in police, prison and psychiatric custody held their annual remembrance procession. The families met at Trafalgar Square and then marched down Whitehall to hold a vigil outside Downing Street. Although numbers were small, as there was no official organising of this, the eleventh year of
Inquest into police death to open after six years
Next week the inquest will begin into the death of Mikey Powell in police custody in Birmingham in September 2003. After a six-year wait, the family and friends of 38-year-old Mikey Powell will finally find out how he died after being arrested by West Midlands police officers outside his mother’s home in the Lozells area
Stop MI5 blackmail!
As MI5 celebrates its centenary, its lack of legal or public accountability was the subject of an important public meeting. On 30 September, a packed meeting at the Camden Centre heard accusations of illegal and secretive activities on the part of the security services, who allegedly tried to blackmail six British youth workers of Somali
Prison teacher victim of new McCarthyism in Belgium
The Platform for Free Expression in Belgium is demanding to know why a language teacher at Saint-Gilles prison in Brussels, who has spoken out against anti-terror laws and the demonisation of Muslims, has been banned from prisons on security grounds. Four university professors have launched a petition to support 57-year-old Luk Vervaet who, on 10
Minor crime doesn’t justify deportation, judges say
The government’s tabloid-driven policy to get tough on refugees who commit minor criminal offences has been dealt a blow by a recent legal ruling. For the past few years, human rights lawyers and refugee support groups have expressed increasing concern over Home Office policy to treat refugees who commit minor offences as ‘foreign national criminals’