The appeal court has upheld Justice Collin’s high court ruling that the Home Secretary was in breach of the human rights convention by denying support to destitute asylum seekers. On Tuesday 18 March, three appeal court judges led by the Master of Rolls, Lord Phillips, dismissed David Blunkett’s appeal against the earlier high court ruling
Theme: Education
‘Accidental death’ during immigration raid, says inquest jury
On Friday 7 March, the inquest into the death of 39-year-old Ghanaian Joseph Crentsil recorded a verdict of accidental death. The verdict meant that the jury decided Joseph came by his death ‘unintentionally or unexpectedly’. Joseph died on 25 November 2001 after falling from a third floor balcony of a block of flats in Streatham,
Analysis: Asylum figures – behind the headlines
The release, last week, of the asylum statistics for 2002 was greeted by politicians and media alike as ‘bad news’. But a closer examination of the numbers reveals a more complex picture. ‘Asylum up 20%’ and ‘Record levels of asylum seekers’ were the headlines proclaimed across last week’s news-stands. And, since the government, earlier this
The hate industry
Britain’s tabloid media has become obsessed with ‘scrounging’ asylum seekers, out of control immigration, foreign ‘plagues’ and Muslim terrorists. The emerging politics of hate, fear and hysteria is set to dominate Britain in 2003. Following the anti-terrorist raids in Wood Green, north London, and the death of Detective Constable Stephen Oake during an anti-terrorist raid
Asylum seekers win temporary reprieve from impending destitution
In denying the right to food and shelter, Blunkett’s new benefit rules breach the European Convention of Human Rights. Mr Justice Collins, sitting at the High Court, has blocked the implementation of Section 55 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, which denies ‘late claimants’ for asylum the right to state-funded shelter and food.
Yarl’s Wood, one year on
Today is not only Valentine’s Day, but also the day, one year ago, that Yarl’s Wood Immigration Detention Centre, the government’s flagship, was burnt, almost to the ground. The government’s asylum policy of ‘faster, firmer, fairer’ was dealt a severe blow. Now, the victims of British asylum policy, those asylum seekers who were locked up
Afghan asylum seeker killed in Southampton
Police have launched a murder inquiry after a 22-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was found unconscious at his home in Southampton on Monday 10 February. Mohammed Isa Hasan Ali had survived imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Taliban regime. But a year and a half after seeking asylum in Britain, he was murdered. According
Haslar – a place of no return
Ukrainian asylum seeker, 42-year-old Mikhail Bognarchuk, was found hanged by his shoelaces in a toilet at Haslar Removal Centre on 31 January. He was due to be deported that day to the Ukraine – a country with a questionable human rights record. A Home Office Country Assessment Report on the Ukraine states that ‘police and
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,
Britain gripped by populist campaigns against immigrants
An explosive mix of prejudices, often verging on paranoia, is fuelling local campaigns against immigration. While the government’s plans to house asylum seekers outside major cities are being challenged by a wave of mass protests in Kent, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Dorset and Lincolnshire, elsewhere, asylum seekers are being made the scapegoats for an NHS in crisis.