UK: Asylum and immigration (1)
01 January 1991
UK: Asylum and immigration
artdoc April=1995
Deportation attempts
Nigerian man dies after immigration raid
A Nigerian man, Joseph Nnalue has died after immigration
officials and police raided his home in Stockwell, south London.
The police claim that the Nigerian died after trying to escape
from a window. But Nnalue's family claim that the police wrestled
with him and pinned him down after the fall. Mr. Nnalue was
awaiting a Home Office decision regarding his immigration status
in the UK (Times 24.10.94, Independent 25.10.94, Weekly Journal
27.10.94).
Inquest into death of Zimbabwean woman returns misadventure
verdict
An inquest has ruled that the death of 27-year-old Kwanele Eldah
Siziba was a case of misadventure. Kwanele Eldah Siziba fell 150
foot to her death in April 1993, as she attempted to flee from
what she believed to be immigration officials coming to deport
her. Police and bailiffs were actually calling at a flat in north
London to serve Ms. Siziba's brother-in-law with a summons for
a parking fine.
Relatives say Ms. Siziba was frightened of dying like Joy
Gardner - who died last July in a struggle with police and
immigration officials (Voice 13.12.94).
Woman bound and gagged in deportation attempt
The Home Office is to investigate claims that a Ghanaian woman
was bound and gagged when attempts were made to forcibly remove
her from Campsfield detention centre in Oxford. The Home Office
is denying that a gag, banned since the death of Joy Gardner, was
used (Guardian 26.11.94).
Bosnians threatened with deportation
Amnesty International and refugee groups have condemned the Home
Office for threatening to return at least 20 Bosnian asylum-
seekers to Croatia in defiance of warnings that it would be
dangerous to do so. The Bosnians entered Britain in 1993 using
Croatian passports as a way of escaping the civil war. Now, the
Home Office argues that an asylum-seeker holding a Croatian
passport is technically a citizen of that country and would only
have the right to remain in Britain if he or she could
demonstrate that they had a well-founded fear of persecution
(Guardian 7.11.94).
Asylum and the courts
Court ruling on homosexuality sets a precedent
An immigration appeal's tribunal has ruled that a Romanian
homosexual, who says that he would face imprisonment and torture
if returned to Romania, should qualify for asylum.The Romanian,
like many other homosexual applicants, had previously been
refused asylum by the Home Office. In the past, immigration
officials have argued that homosexuals do not form part of a
persecuted social group, and that they could avoid persecution
by keeping their sexuality secret (Guardian 14.12.94).
Law on protection of children overrides immigration law, says
High Court
The High Court, in overruling the Home Secretary's attempts to
deport all-year-old boy who was being abused by his family in
Bangladesh, has set a legal precedent whereby the law governing
the protection of children takes precedence over immigration
regulations. The brother of the young boy, who had relatives in
the UK, placed him unaccompanied on a plane in a bid to help him
escape the abuse (Guardian 21.11.94).
Government announces increased budget for immigration control
The government say that they need to spend an extra 4 per cent
in the coming year on the immigration service in order to pay for
the increase in the number of operations against illegal
immigrants and to deal with rising asylum applications (Guardian
30.11.94). Furthermore, three new detention centres to house 270
immigration prisoners are to be built in 1995 at Gatwick,
Heathrow and Stansted airports (Independent 22.12.94). One of
the effects of increased spending on immigration control could
be more police raids.. Forty West African contract cleaners were
arrested during a Home Office raid at the insurance market,
Lloyds of London. According to the J