The anti-Muslim backlash has intensified in the three weeks following the London bombings. Muslim organisations monitoring attacks report that the numbers are increasing rapidly. According to the Islamic Human Rights Commission they have risen thirteen-fold since 7 July. The Muslim Safety Forum reports that ‘faith-related’ attacks in London have risen by 500 per cent since
Theme: Alternative voices on integration
Inquest rules asylum seeker died from natural causes at Haslar
On 8 July 2005, the inquest into the death of Kabeya Dimuka Bijoux, at Haslar removal centre on 1 May 2004, recorded a verdict of death by natural causes despite concerns raised that his death might have been connected to injuries sustained at another immigration centre. Bijoux (as he is known to his family), an
Asylum seeker death in Dover from ‘natural causes’
The family of 40-year-old Kurdish asylum seeker, Elmas Ozmico, have expressed concerns at a recent inquest verdict into her death that found that she died of natural causes. Concerns centre around the fact that despite asking for medical help she was not taken to hospital until 19 hours after she arrived at Dover. Elmas Ozmico
Fight to prevent deportation of injured asylum seeker
Despite a 21-year-old asylum seeker being served with three removal notices and sustaining a broken hand during one attempted deportation to Congo-Brazzaville, he has, with the help of campaigners, now been given temporary admission to the UK and submitted a fresh asylum application based on new evidence. Anicet Mayela, a 21-year-old asylum seeker from Congo
Death case throws up police failings
On 29 June, at a second disciplinary tribunal of police officers involved in the failed police investigations into the murder of Jay Abatan in January 1999 in Brighton, two police officers were found guilty of various misconduct charges – for which they were reprimanded or cautioned. The tribunal revealed many troubling details about the police
Seeking asylum is not a crime
A new report by Amnesty International (AI) calls on the government to ‘justify the lawfulness of detention’ of each and every single asylum seeker in the UK. AI concludes that in many cases the detention of asylum seekers is ‘protracted, inappropriate and disproportionate’. The report, Seeking asylum is not a crime: Detention of people who
ID cards: implications for Black, Minority Ethnic, migrant and refugee communities
The Identity Cards Bill, introduced on 25 May 2005, is aimed at enabling the policing of a harder boundary of entitlement between British citizens and foreigners. The result will be the creation of a new under-class of those who are ‘sans plastique’. The government’s ID cards programme is being justified by the perceived need to
Worries over DNA and racial profiling
Black men are four times more likely than White men to be on the national DNA database and there is growing concern about racial profiling in criminal investigations. The police national DNA database (NDNAD), launched in 1995, now contains almost three million profiles. The prospect of everyone providing a DNA profile for the database is
Asylum death deemed misadventure
A jury has returned a verdict of death by misadventure following a three-day inquest into the death of Nariman Tahmasebi, a 27-year-old Iranian asylum seeker who was found hanged in Lewes prison in February 2002. Nariman Tahmasebi fled to the UK following a period of detention in Iran for his political beliefs. Refused asylum in
Asylum seekers ‘held’ in unsuitable conditions
Recent unannounced inspections of centres used to hold asylum seekers in transit to detention centres and to ports for deportation have found that no centre meets the minimum requirements in relation to child protection. Officials carried out their first (unannounced) inspections into ‘holding’ centres for asylum seekers between June and October 2004. The holding centres,