Stop deportations to Iraq!

The first mass deportation flight to Baghdad carried around 40 people early on Thursday, 15th October, on a specially chartered plane provided by Air Italy. We have since learnt that 10 of the deportees were taken off the flight in Baghdad while the rest were not accepted by the Iraqi government and were flown back to detention in the UK. A Home Office statement said they will "iron out" the difficulties they faced and "expect to carry out another flight."
Despite its failure, the Baghdad deportation flight marks a shift in government policy, which since 2005 has been deporting people back to Iraqi Kurdistan but not to Iraq. Now they have begun, deportations to Iraq are sure to continue putting the lives of many in danger. As recently as the 11th October, three car bombs exploded in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi , killing at least 19 people. Violence and bloodshed continue throughout the country, which saw 1,891 civilian deaths in the first six months of this year alone. There are also widespread food shortages, lack of access to clean drinking water and other grave humanitarian crises in many areas.
The British government, through its participation in the war on and occupation of Iraq since 2003, is responsible for these crises and the consequent displacement of millions of Iraqis. Instead of helping accommodate refugees fleeing war and violence, it is now sending them back en masse to face their possible death. Charter flight deportations in particular limit detainees legal recourse and are especially violent (see http://stopdeportation.net/node/1 for more information).
We call upon all groups, organisations and individuals opposed to this brutal action by the UK government to stand with us in calling for all deportations to Iraq to be stopped. Join us to demonstrate against mass deportations to Iraq this Saturday the 17th October, at 2pm, at Parliament Square .
If you would like to add your or your organisation's name to this statement, or for any further information, please email stopdeportation[at]riseup.net.
Other things you can do to help stop this flight:
Contact your local MP and ask them to put pressure on the UK Border Agency to cancel the deportation. You can find your local MP at http://findyourmp.parliament.uk
Contact the UKBA directly to demand the deportation be cancelled:
Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk
CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Contact the minister for borders and immigration Phil Woolas:
House of Commons phone number: 020 7219 1149
House of Commons fax number: 020 7219 0992
Constituency phone number: 0161 624 4248
Constituency fax number: 0161 626 8572
Please copy stopdeportation[at]riseup.net in your email correspondence.
SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS
- International Federation of Iraqi Refugees
- Stop Deportation Network
http://stopdeportation.net
- National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns, UK
http://www.ncadc.org.uk
- Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq
http://www.csdiraq.com
- Asylum Support and Immigration Resource Team (ASIRT), Birmingham
http://www.asirt.org.uk
- SOAS Detainee Support Group (SDS)
http://www.soasdetaineesupport.org.uk
- SOAS Students' Union, London
http://soasunion.org
- SOAS Stop the War Society
http://soasstopthewar.blogspot.com
- No Borders UK
http://noborders.org.uk
- No Borders London
http://london.noborders.org.uk
- No Borders Oxford
- No Borders South Wales
- No Borders Nottingham
http://www.nobordersnottingham.org.uk
- Campaign Against Immigration Controls (CAIC)
http://caic.org.uk
- Campaign to Close Campsfield
http://www.closecampsfield.org.uk
- Barbed Wire Britain
http://barbedwirebritain.org
- Remisus, Liverpool
- Stop the War Coalition, UK
http://www.stopwar.org.uk
- Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!
http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org
- South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group (SYMAAG)
- Latin American Workers' Association
- Citizen Orange
http://www.citizenorange.com/
- Developing Partners
www.developingpartners.org.uk
- no-racism.net
http://no-racism.net
- John McDonnell MP
- Jeremy Corbyn MP
- Neil Gerrard MP
- Mike Wood MP
- Women Solidarity for an Independent and Unified Iraq
http://solidarityiraq.blogspot.