UK: Asylum and immigration
01 January 1991
UK: Asylum and immigration
artdoc April=1995
Amnesty condemns UK asylum policies yet again
Amnesty International, in a study of fifty asylum cases, has
accused the UK government of systematically violating
international law over the detention of asylum seekers in
Britain.
The number of asylum seekers held in UK prisons and immigration
detention centres has doubled over the last 18 months to more
than 600, and people have been held for up to 17 months.
`Current immigration laws provide officials with sweeping
powers to subject asylum seekers to indefinite administrative
detention, without reference or accountability to any court or
independent review body' said a spokesperson for Amnesty
(Guardian 18.10.94).
Lethal US pepper spray gun could be used for deportations
A leaked Whitehall paper, obtained by the "Weekly Journal",
suggests that the lethal pepper spray gun, already responsible
for 34 deaths in the US, could be used in the UK against
deportees. Medical experts fear the fatal consequences of the
spray. `Capsicum pepper produces an anaphylactic shock which is
an allergic reaction, similar to acute asthma, which results in
cardiac and respiratory problems that are potentially fatal' says
Richard Caldwell, senior analyst at the Drugs Control Centre,
Kings College, London. Tests also show that the pepper is capable
of causing cancer and mutations in off-spring (Weekly Journal
13.10.94 ).
Labour MP calls for inquiry into deportation of injured man
When, immigration police attempted to deport a Pakistani man,
named only as Mr. Shah who slashed himself with a razor while
being held at Heathrow police station, the captain of the
aircraft refused to take him on board. He only received medical
treatment when he was taken to Rochester prison in Kent, seven
and a half hours after he had slashed himself. One officer at the
prison said: `We've seen some horrific things but that just
topped it all. How they could claim that man was fit to travel
is beyond me. What we are talking about is lack of care.'
The Labour MP for West Kent, Peter Skinner has written to the
Home Secretary demanding an independent inquiry. A spokesperson
for the Home Office says Mr. Shah had refused medical treatment
when he had been offered it. Mr. Shah was flown to Karachi,
accompanied by a nurse, the day after his suicide attempt
(Guardian 28.10.94).
PKK spokesperson a threat to national security says Home
Secretary
A Home Office inquiry has been launched to ascertain why a
leading spokesperson for the PKK was allowed into Britain,
although, according to the Home Secretary's account, he was
banned from the country on national security grounds.
Kani Yilmaz, who has lived in Germany for ten years and has
refugee status, was invited to address a meeting in the Houses
of Parliament by the Labour MP, John Austin-Walker. He was
arrested on the way to the meeting, even though he had been in
the country for three days with the full knowledge of the
immigration service.
The Home Office initially insisted that Mr.Yilmaz had slipped
into the country illegally but later stated that he had
`erroneously been given leave to enter the UK.'
After Mr.Yilmaz was detained he was taken to Belmarsh prison
to await a decision on his possible deportation. The Home
Office's explanation of his detention is even more puartdoc
April=1995ling as he has visited Britain twice before and no
attempt had been made to exclude him.
A Liberal Democratic peer, Lord Avebury, who has supported
Mr.Yilmaz, has been banned from visiting Turkey on the grounds
that the authorities `do not believe his future presence in
Turkey to be constructive to the maintenance of public order.'
A representative of the civil rights group, Liberty, was removed
from Belmarsh prison when he attempted to record an interview
with Mr.Yilmaz (Guardian 27.10, 8.11.94).
The case of Mr.Yilmaz follows a build-up of criticism fr