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The British government is continuing
to forcibly return Iraqi Kurdish
Refugees
Between fifty and
fifty-five people were forcibly
deported to Iraqi Kurdistan
yesterday afternoon on a specially
chartered mass deportation flight,
operated by Alitalia airlines.
Four white
coaches took deportees from Tinsley
House, Brook House, Colnbrook and
Dover immigration prisons, with
others brought in G4S vans. The
flight left Stanstead at 5pm and
arrived in Erbil International
Airport at 10 in the evening. Each
person was given $100 then left at
the airport.
One of the
deportees, Hassan Ahmad, 35, has
told the International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees:
‘I was woken up
early morning. Me and my friend in
the cell refused to get up but all
these security guards came in and
forced us up and out onto buses –
they were very rough. Why do they
treat us like this? I lived an
honest life in Hull. I lived there
for ten years. I had an active life
there, I was always good to people.
They’ve taken me away from my
girlfriend and my best friend. For
what? None of us wanted to go back
and none of us should have gone
back.’
At least two
people were not deported due to last
minute representations by their
local communities, solicitors and
MPs, supported by IFIR and Medical
Justice (see, for example,
http://csdiraq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=90&Itemid=1)
Samera Ahmed of
the International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees says:
‘the UK
Government continues to attack the
Iraqi people. They are sending them
back to a country that is under a
government that has no respect for
the human rights, which they
continue to prop up so they have
access to exploit the country
further.’
--ends--
Contact
ifir@hotmail.co.uk
Dashty
07856032991
Richard
07824996724
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. 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.
3. According to Home
Office figures, 632 people have been
forcibly deported to Iraqi Kurdistan
between 2005 and 2008. The
International Federation of Iraqi
Refugees estimates that the figure,
with the monthly charter flights
deporting 50 Iraqis at a time since
the beginning of 2009, currently
stands at approximately 1000.
4. Mass deportation
flights have been shown to limit
refugees’ access to due legal
process and encourage more abuse of
deportees. See the Stop
Deportation Network’s briefing at
http://stopdeportation.net/node/1
5. Many of those
deported had fled the KRG
authorities, to whose mercy they are
being sent back. Last month, a
report by Amnesty International
revealed "a pattern of abuses"
committed by KRG security forces. A
2007 report by Human Rights Watch
similarly revealed that KRG security
forces "routinely torture and deny
basic due-process rights to
detainees." The Amnesty
International report, 'Hope and
Fear', is available at
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18152.
The Human Rights Watch report,
'Caught in the Whirlwind', is
available at
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2007/07/02/caught-whirlwind-0.
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. For more details
on Iraq mass deportation flights,
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
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