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UK: 50 Iraqi Kurds Deported to Kurdistan
region.. Again
13.2.2007
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February 13, 2007
UK, -- For the third time in less than two
years, a 'charter flight' left the RAF Brize Norton
military base in Oxfordshire Monday, carrying 50+
Iraqi-Kurdish asylum seekers, who had been arrested
and detained from across the UK, to Erbil, Kurdistan
(Northern Iraq).
Some 60 protesters gathered at the gates of Brize
Norton Monday morning, in a protest called by the
Campaign to Close Campsfield. It followed other
protests over the weekend in London, Leicester and
Manchester.
But neither these protests nor the repeated warnings
from national and international human rights
organisations [UNHCR | Amnesty] managed to convince
the Home Office of halting forced removals to unsafe
Iraq.
Top Secret
In the run-up to today's deportations, the Home
Office have consistently refused to reveal any
details (date, names etc.) concerning the
'operation', not even to the deportees' solicitors.
For reasons of "operational security", they said,
"it is not the policy of the Immigration Service to
disclose logistical information about such removals,
but we anticipate removal will be before the end of
February." |
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Initial reports had suggested the date of the
charter flight would be 27 January, but that flight
seems to have been cancelled. Later on, reports from
detainee support groups confirmed that the flight
was scheduled on 12 February from the Brize Norton
RAF base, but the time was not confirmed.
Detainees in Tynsley House were told by staff that
they must hand over their phones and be ready to
leave at 4am. However, the solicitor acting for one
of the detainees said the Judge considering his
matter had confirmed with the Home Office that the
plane would be flying at 2pm.
This secrecy can be only explained by the Home
Office's attempt to avoid the growing pressure and
embarrassment caused by campaigners and protesters.
"They must have learned something from the previous
times after all," as one protester put it.
Don't They Read the
Papers?!
The argument the Home Office has used to deport
Iraqi-Kurdish asylum seekers to Kurdistan (northern
Iraq) is that the northern parts of the country,
unlike the rest, are "relatively safe". This is, of
course, totally unfounded. In its position paper on
Iraq, UNHCR recently said that the security
situation in the three northern governorates (Sulaimaniyah,
Erbil and Duhok), "remains tense and unpredictable"
and that "careful consideration" must be given
before any returns are carried out. The UK is so far
the only European country to forcibly 'remove'
asylum seekers to Iraq.
Even the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), who
were apparently aware of the Home Office's intention
to deport a number of rejected Iraqi-Kurdish asylum
seekers, do not seem to agree with this policy. KRG
representative in the UK Bayan Rahman has reportedly
written to the Home Office saying they "object to
any forced returns".
"This is so ridiculous," said one Iraq refugee, who
preferred to keep anonymous, commenting on the Home
Office's declaring Northern Iraq "safe to return".
"Don't these people read the papers?!" he added.
indymedia org.uk
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