"I Write Freedom Till I Die" - Appeal for Mandaean detainees

Is there a 'Humanitarian Crisis' at Croyden!      Posted 10/01/2003

Soup protests - all went well

Asylum destitution law: Liberty challenge

Churches oppose law making asylum applicants destitute in Britain

Asylum and Immigration: Removals Inquiry

Mende Nazer Wins Fight for Asylum

After being threatened with being deported back to the country where she was enslaved for eight years, escaped Sudanese slave Mende Nazer has won her fight for asylum in the United Kingdom.      More > > >        Posted 07/01/2003

Parliament January 2003

Foreign Prisoners (Deportation) Hansard Thursday 9th January 2003

      Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals serving prison sentences in prisons in England and Wales are to be deported on the completion of their prison sentence. [88838]
      Beverley Hughes: As of 23 December 2002 there were 3,930 prisoners serving sentence who are known to be liable to be deported on completion of their custodial sentence. Each case is reviewed on its merits not sooner than 12 months before the prisoner might expect to be released having served the required period in custody.
      Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the longest time was that a foreign national (a) man and (b) woman who had served a prison sentence waited on completion of that sentence to be deported from the UK in each of the last three years. [88839]
      Beverley Hughes: I regret that the information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
     Mr. Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals held in prisons in England and Wales are awaiting deportation and have completed their prison sentence.
     Beverley Hughes: As of 23 December 2002 there are 94 prisoners detained beyond completion of their criminal sentences awaiting deportation.

'The point of an immigration removal centre is not to educate children."
                             Home Office comment on Ay children, detained at Dungavel Removal Centre

Ay Family - "These children were 'exceptional' pupils ... now they are prisoners"

Fury as asylum-seekers detained for six months
By Stephen Naysmith, Sunday Herlad, Scotland                  Posted: Sunday 5th January 2003

Words being turned into Actions              Posted 02/01/2003

Demonstrations against sections 55 and 57 of NIAA

Next Wednesday 8th January 2003, sections 55 and 57 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act (NIAA), come into force. This will throw thousands of asylum seekers into complete destitution. Under these rules asylum seekers who do not claim asylum as soon as they arrive in the country will forfeit all rights to assistance from the National Asylum Support Service.

There has massive condemnation from refugee support groups of the new act and in particular sections 55 and 57, now the words are being turned into actions. There will be three demonstration against the new rules over the next six days.

  Bristol: Saturday 4th January 2003, "The Blair Soup Protest" organized by Bristol Defend the Asylum Seekers Campaign:

Glasgow: Wednesday 8th January 2003 Protest/rally against sections 55 & 57 of NIAA, organized by Glasgow Campaign to Welcome Refugees, full details:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/newszine30/glasgow.html

London: Wednesday 8th January 2003, 'Stop the destitution of asylum seekers - Soup Kitchen Protest', Organised by: Asylum Rights Campaign, Barbed Wire Britain, Committee to Defend Asylum Seekers, National Assembly Against Racism, full details:
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/newszine29/soup.html

Background briefing: Sections *55 and *57 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, come into force on January 8th 2003.
http://www.ncadc.org.uk/letters/news28/8thjan.html

Asylum destitution law: Liberty challenge

Psychiatrists detention plea: Most people in Australian immigration detention centres are emotionally disturbed and an independent mental health review was urgently needed, psychiatrists said today.     More > > >