Prisoners of "War"
01 March 1991
Gulf War hostilities against Iraqi and other Arab people started early in Britain. In September 1990 the immigration rules were changed so as to prohibit the entry (and re-entry) of Iraqi students and 23 Iraqis were expelled on national security grounds. Re-entry visas for other Iraqi nationals many of whom are refugees from Saddam Hussein's regime were delayed for months. From September onwards Iraqis entering Britain were subjected to thorough personal and baggage checks and questioning about their attitude to Saddam Hussein (UKCOSA Briefing January 1991). On 3 January a further 67 Iraqis were served with notices of intention to deport them again on national security grounds.
In the days immediately following the outbreak of war in the Gulf 63 more Iraqis and seven Palestinians were served with notices of intention to deport them. On 18 January the Home Office issued new rules prohibiting the granting of visas leave to enter or extensions of stay to all Iraqis and requiring all those with limited leave to stay (ie visitors students and short-stay businessmen) to register immediately with the police. Although the penalty for failing to register is a fine of up to £1,000 and a possible recommendation for deportation notices were not sent to individuals affected by the new requirement; instead advertisements were placed in the Arab press (Home Office Press Releases 16/17/18.1.91). A further 32 Iraqis were detained on 23 January and fifteen deportees were flown to Amman. One told reporters there that he had been held in prison for eight days and then deported with no evidence against him. He had been studying in the UK for six years. He accused Britain of anti-Arab racism.
Those who decided to challenge their detention and proposed deportation received first encouragement then a slap in the face from the courts. On 22 January High Court Judge Simon Brown gave a stateless couple Mr and Mrs B leave to challenge the Home office decision saying "there is an urgent need to decide whether this is... internment by the back door". By the following day the same judge had decided that the urgent need no longer existed. "The court cannot interfere in matters of national security" he said refusing the application of Abbas Cheblak a moderate with a public history of opposition to Saddam Hussein. Besides he reminded detainees they had the right to make representations before the three "wise men" the panel whose advice the Home Office would consider before deporting. The panel of advisers system for reviewing national security deportations was set up in 1971 after the Labour government rejected the recommendations in the 1968 Wilson committee's report. The report said deportations should "not be exempt from the fundamental principle that any administrative decision should be subject to scrutiny and appeal before execution". When in 1976 American journalist Mark Hosenball challenged the procedure as unfair, Lord Denning, in the Court of Appeal agreed but said that "the rules of natural justice have to be modified in regard to foreigners who prove themselves unwelcome and ought to be deported".
Detainees received by way of particulars of their offence to Britain's security a standard form letter saying:
"The Iraqi government has openly threatened to take terrorist action against unspecified Western targets if hostilities break out in the Gulf. In the light of this, your known links and activities in connection with the Iraqi regime make your presence in the United Kingdom an unacceptable security risk ."
The Home office intended to rush all the hearings through in three days listing them at the rate of eight a day. Only after lawyers acting for the detainees threatened High Court proceedings did the panel chair Lord Justice Lloyd agree to adjourn cases to allow detainees more time to fight the (unknown) case against them. The conditions in Pentonville where those who applied for a panel review were detained militate