Immigration
Home Office guilty of classifying asylum-seeking children as adults
At the end of last week it was revealed that a group legal action against the Home Office, brought by 40 child-asylum seekers who had wrongly been detained as adults, resulted in a legal bill of £2m for the Office. The cases were troubling as the children had been deemed to be underaged by social [...]
Filed under Immigration, February 20th, 2012Silence of the Lambs rapist to be deported from Australia to Britain
A British man in his 60s, Leslie Cunliffe, is scheduled to be deported from Australia after judicial authorities have deemed him to be of poor character due to his criminal past. Cunliffe has been living in Australia since 1967, but spent several years in prison after he was he was convicted of having raped a [...]
Filed under Immigration, February 14th, 2012Bin Laden’s “right hand man” to be released
The radical cleric Abu Qatada, referred to as “Osama bin Laden’s right-hand man in Europe”, is to be released on bail as no charges have been brought against him. Yesterday Mr Justice Mitting, at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, said that Qatada’s continued detention could not be justified. The judge considered that he should be [...]
Filed under Human Rights,Immigration, February 7th, 2012MPs question the safety of deportation techniques
MPs have raised concerns over the removal techniques used by private contractors hired by the UK Border Agency to accompany deportees on their removal from the country. The Commons’ Home Affairs Committee has looked into the practices used after concern was raised following the death of a man who was forcibly deported from England. Just [...]
Filed under Immigration, January 26th, 2012Assange asks Supreme Court for extradition hearing
Earlier this week, the High Court gave Julian Assange, the Australian founder of Wikileaks, the green light to ask the Supreme Court to hear his case. As this blog has reported earlier, Assange is fighting extradition to Sweden where the national authorities want to speak to him in relation to allegations of sexual assault. He [...]
Filed under Immigration, December 6th, 2011Court of Appeal rules on minimum 72-hour removal notice for migrants
In 2010 the UK Border Agency implemented a policy that allowed for the quick removal of migrants whose claim to enter or remain in the country had been refused. Under the policy, such migrants were given less than 72-hours’ removal notice. The policy was challenged by the charity Medical Justice and was quashed by the [...]
Filed under Immigration, November 24th, 2011European Court of Human Rights refuses UK extradition of Nigerian teen
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Home Office is not allowed to deport a migrant teenage boy from Nigeria who had been convicted of rape, as this would violate his right to private life. The boy, known as AA, spent four years in a young offenders’ institution after he was convicted [...]
Filed under Human Rights,Immigration, November 21st, 2011Petition calls for debate over fate of terrorism suspect
More than 100,000 Brits have signed an e-petition for the House of Commons to debate the case of Babar Ahmad, the British citizen held for seven years on suspicion, but no charge, of terrorism. Ahmad was arrested on two different occasions. In 2003, he was detained during a raid on his home in Tooting, London. [...]
Filed under Human Rights,Immigration,International law, November 4th, 2011Wikileaks creator faces extradition over sexual assault allegations
Julian Assange, the creator of Wikileaks, had his extradition appeal rejected by the High Court yesterday. The court did not consider that his extradition to Sweden would be ‘unfair and unlawful’, as his legal team has submitted. Swedish authorities are seeking to have Assange extradited, from the UK, over allegations that he sexually assaulted two [...]
Filed under Human Rights,Immigration, November 3rd, 2011Supreme Court rules Government’s ban on young spouses is unlawful
The Supreme Court has dealt a serious blow to the Government’s ‘tough on immigration’ policy by ruling that the ban on non-EU spouses under the age of 21 entering the UK is a breach of human rights. The ban was introduced as a measure to tackle forced marriages. However, the Supreme Court held that the [...]
Filed under Immigration, October 12th, 2011