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Press release
17/11/2009
Swedish Iraqi detainees have been
informed that they will be forcibly
send back to Bagdad today.
Iraqi refugees held in Fleen,
Stockholm and Kolaret detention
centres have been informed by the
Swedish authorities that they will
be forcibly returned to Baghdad
today (17th November 09).
In the last two years Sweden has
returned more than 200 people via
charter flight to Baghdad. Baghdad
is one of the most insecure cities
in Iraq, yet the Swedish Government
returned a disabled man to Baghdad
in October 2008. In December the
Swedish authorities imprisoned and
detained a pregnant woman. The
Swedish government's immigration
policy destroys lives. Mewan Omer
committed suicide in Gottenburg
rather than be deported back to
Iraq. Soran Omer died of exposure
because he did not have place to
live in sweden. The Federation has
received reports from returned
asylum seekers who have been
kidnapped or killed, many more are
forced into hiding in Iraq.
IFIR condemns this action and
requests that all human rights and
refugees' rights organisations send
letters to the Moderate Government
calling for the following demands
which are supported by many
progressive human and refugees'
rights organisations in Sweden:
Stop deportations to Iraq·
Grant protection to all Iraqi and
Kurdish refugees and recognise them
as victims of war.
Allow Iraqi refugees the right to
work or to receive a decent level of
benefit
Provide support for disabled Iraqis
Immediately release the remaining
Iraqi refugees held in detention
Regards
(Ends)
Contact: 07856032991,07824996724
www.federationifir.com,
.www.csdiraq.com.
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Notes for editors
1. The International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees campaigns for the
rights of Iraqi refugees and against
forcible deportations. It is a
member of the Coalitions to Stop
Deportations to Iraq
(www.csdiraq.com)
2. According to Home Office figures,
632 people were forcibly deported to
the KRG region in the north between
2005 and 2008. The International
Federation of Iraqi Refugees
estimates that the figure, with the
monthly charter flights deporting 50
people at a time since the beginning
of 2009, currently stand at
approximately 900.
3. As the government seeks to
increase the number and frequency of
deportations, it has started to
increasingly use specially chartered
flights to deport as many as 80
people at a time. In 2008 alone,
there were 66 such flights,
deporting a total of 1,529 people.
4 On 15th October ten people were
deported to Baghdad on a similar
mass deportation flight, although
the other thirty people on board
were returned in farcical
circumstances (see www.csdiraq.com
for previous press releases). As
recently as the 11th of October
three car bombs exploded in the
western Iraqi city of Ramadi and
killed 19 people. Violence and
bloodshed continue in Iraq, which
saw 1,891 civilian deaths in the
first six months of this year. There
are also widespread food shortages
and lack of access to clean drinking
water in many areas of Iraq
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7856618.stm)
5. Deportation charter flights limit
refugees’ access to due legal
process. The UK Border Agency's
Enforcement Instructions and
Guidance states that: "charter
flights may be subject to different
arrangements where it is considered
appropriate because of the
complexities, practicalities and
costs of arranging an operation."
Deportees and their representatives
are not even told the date of the
flight. On the day of the flight,
they are woken up early in the
morning and forced to switch off
their phones so they are unable to
instruct their solicitors to submit
last-minute appeals. More details
can be found in the Stop Deportation
network briefing:
http://stopdeportation.net/node/1
6. To operate a charter flight, the
Home Office contracts a range of
private companies. Airlines that are
known to have been used include
Hamburg International and Czech
Airlines. Bus companies to drive
people from detention to the airport
have included WH Tours and Woodcock
coaches. Private security companies
used to escort deportees include
Group 4 Securicor and SERCO.
7. Standard practice on charter
flights, confirmed by people who
have been deported, is for each
deportee to be shadowed by at least
two security guards, handcuffed and
forced onto the plane under the
threat of violence. Any disobedience
or attempt to resist has been met
with disproportionate force to
'restrain' the deportees. A mass
deportation flight to Iraqi
Kurdistan in September 2008 saw
deportees who tried to leave the
plane beaten by the security guards,
with one man's head hit against a
window of the plane smashing it. The
flight was cancelled.
8. For more details on previous
deportation charter flights to the
KRG, see:
http://csdiraq.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1&limit=5&limit...
http://csdiraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50&Itemid=1
http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3208
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/30/immigrationpolicy.immigra...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/12/asylum-seekers-kurds
9. On 19th October 2009 six
protestors were found not guilty of
blockading a mass deportation flight
to Iraqi Kurdistan in May 2009.
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