Law lords back Iraqi Kurd over asylum.
By Nigel Morris -
18 June 2004
A suicidal Iraqi
Kurd asylum-seeker won a court victory yesterday
over David Blunkett in his five-year battle to
have his claim for refuge heard in the UK.
The Home Secretary wants Mohamed Ali Razgar, 26,
to be sent back to Germany, the first country in
which he sought asylum, because his human rights
claim was "manifestly unfounded". But the Law
Lords ruled by a 3-2 majority that he was
entitled to stay in the UK until his appeal had
been heard.
His lawyers argued his health would suffer and
he could try to take his life if he were sent
back to Germany. He had tried to kill himself in
the past as a result of two years of detention
and torture in Iraq.
Lord Bingham said the asylum-seeker would be
able to receive medical help in this country
that he might not in Germany. "A decision which,
if implemented, might lead to Mr Razgar taking
his own life could scarcely ... be dismissed as
of insufficient gravity," he said.
Mr Razgar was refused asylum by the German
authorities, but then claimed asylum in the UK
in February 1999.
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "The facts of
this one case are exceptional and the number of
cases which may be affected by this judgment
should be extremely small."
Translated by a
robot to Arabic |
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