Refugees fight forced return to Iraq war zones

UN dismay as tribunal allows British expulsions

• Posted on Apr 14, 2008

"The United Nations accused the government of holding a 'sword of Damocles' over the heads of Iraqi refugees in Britain after it emerged that the Home Office had won a landmark test case giving it the power to return refugees to war-torn parts of their home country, including Basra and Baghdad.

The ruling, which is being studied closely by other European countries, has alarmed refugee support groups, who say it means asylum seekers from war zones could be returned to other dangerous countries, such as Somalia.

The Refugee Legal Centre has launched an urgent appeal against the ruling by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal, which it says paves the way for the removal of the majority of Iraqi asylum seekers in the UK."

Full article by Jamie Doward, home affairs editor, The Observer, Sunday April 13 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/apr/13/immigrationpolicy.iraq

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