The refusal of a visa to attend the inquest of her son’s death added to the grief and distress of a bereaved mother. On 3 January 2005, Godfrey Moyo, a 25-year-old Zimbabwean who suffered from epilepsy, died at Belmarsh prison after being restrained face down outside his cell by prison officers. The inquest into his
Theme: Health
Ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka
The Institute of Race Relations’ director explains the roots of ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka in a speech to ‘Marxism 2009’. ‘It’s difficult to talk dispassionately about what is going on in my country, when the horror of what the government is doing to a civilian Tamil population – already shelled and burned out of
Asylum seeker stitches eyes and mouth in protest
An Iranian asylum seeker has sewn his face up and is on hunger strike in protest at his ‘inhumane treatment’ in immigration detention. Fariat Mohammadi, an Iranian asylum seeker who fought against the Islamic regime in Iran, has been held in detention since his arrival in the UK eleven months ago. Currently held in Colnbrook
Germany: why did Marwa al-Sherbini die?
On 1 July, Marwa al-Sherbini, an Egyptian woman who wore the headscarf and was three months pregnant, was brutally murdered in a Dresden courtroom by a German man of Russian descent who declared ‘you have no right to live’. Marwa al-Sherbini was stabbed eighteen times in the space of thirty seconds. It was a frenzied
Christopher Caldwell dissected
The author of key works on contemporary terrorism and the concept of Eurabia dissects the latest anti-Muslim tome. Since the late Oriana Fallaci published her anti-Muslim diatribe The Rage and the Pride in 2001, the Islamic threat to Europe has become something of a minor publishing phenomenon. Mark Steyn, Bat Ye’or, Bruce Bawer and Melanie
Shockwaves: Romanians in Belfast
The recent racist attacks against migrant workers have turned my stomach. But two things have shocked me more than the attacks themselves. The first shock was the police tactics in dealing with this crisis. The Romanians have apparently been moved en masse under armed guard to a secret location. A large proportion of the local
Calais No Border camp
Before it even started, the Calais No Border Camp was attacked in the right-wing press. The Mail on Sunday denounced the camp with the headline: ‘Police arrest 17 anarchists threatening to lead swarms of illegal migrants through Channel tunnel to Britain’. The Calais No Border camp is being held from 23-29 June 2009 and is
Fear and loathing in Belfast
In a personal statement, Phil Scraton sets the recent attacks on Roma in South Belfast in the wider context of persistent anti-Traveller racial violence in the UK. Over thirty Roma families, including many young children, were forced to leave their homes in South Belfast and within a week most families left Ireland, following several weeks
Cancelled!
The introduction of the points-based system, together with the habitual contempt for foreigners shown by immigration staff, is turning the UK into a pariah destination for artists and creative workers, according to an important new report. The Manifesto Club’s report UK Arts and Culture: Cancelled, by Order of the Home Office: The Impact of New
New exhibition on the Anti-Apartheid movement
A new exhibition has opened at the Museum of London that celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. The display, ‘Forward to Freedom: The Anti-Apartheid Movement and the liberation of southern Africa’, a collaborative effort between the Museum and the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) Archives Committee seeks to show the brutality and injustice of the