Topic: Britain expels 32 Iraqi failed asylum seekers

Media: AFP
Byline: n/a
Date: 6 Sept 2006

Body:


LONDON, Sept 6, 2006 (AFP) - Thirty-two Iraqis who failed to gain asylum in
Britain have been sent back to their home country, the Home Office told AFP
on Wednesday.

Five asylum seekers who had sought permission to stay in Britain pending an
appeal against their unsuccessful asylum applications were granted
injunctions by London's High Court ahead of a judicial review of their
cases.

But a Home Office spokesman said five other Iraqis who had been on a waiting
list for expulsion had taken their places on a military transport plane
which left Britain on Tuesday night.

"The flight has already landed in Iraq. The five injunctions to prevent
removal were granted but the flight left at full capacity," he added.

"There were 32 individuals. We had identified other individuals who were
returned instead of those five."

On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Refugee Legal Centre, a British charity
helping asylum seekers, said that "many more" of the 32 would not have been
on the flight had they been given "meaningful access to representation".

Some 2,500 Iraqis have returned voluntarily to their country since July
2003, the Home Office said, adding that London only expels people who are
not at risk of persecution and who do not need humanitarian protection.

In November last year, a British government attempt to expel 70 Iraqi Kurds
ended with only 20 being flown out because of last-minute legal challenges.