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UK: Home Office removes Iraqi Kurds
surreptitiously
7.9.2007
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September
7, 2007
London, UK, -- On the three previous
occasions in which military flights have been used
to remove Iraqis from the UK, the Home Office has
faced severe criticism. Now, it appears, small
numbers of Iraqis are being quietly removed on other
flights which are less open to public scrutiny.
IRR News has learned that two or three Iraqis were
removed on Wednesday night on a flight bound for
Erbil, Kurdistan region (northern Iraq), travelling
via Jordan. Rather than chartering a military
flight, as on previous occasions, the Home Office is
thought to have removed the Iraqis on board a flight
containing medicines and other humanitarian
supplies. It is believed that small numbers of
Iraqis will now be removed each month using this new
approach.
Whereas the Home Office normally discloses
information on chartered flights, information about
deportees who are removed on other flights is
generally not made available. When asked whether any
Iraqis had been removed this week, a Home Office
spokesperson told IRR News: 'We only give specific
information on charter flights and the last charter
flight was on 12 February 2007. However we take a
robust approach to people who are here illegally and
deal with returns on a case by case basis.'
Despite the escalating violence across the whole of
Iraq, the Home Office seems determined to continue
its programme of sending Iraqis back to the country
against their will. Although less troubled than the
rest of Iraq, the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq
faces regular outbreaks of terrorist violence as
well as a range of other human rights abuses.
Dashty Jamal, of the International Federation of
Iraqi Refugees, told IRR News: 'We know that those
who have been returned to Iraq on previous
deportation flights have suffered abuses of various
kinds upon their return. We call on the government
to halt these dangerous flights, which put people's
lives at risk.'
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
maintains that it is currently unsafe to return
Iraqis who have sought asylum overseas.
At least two million Iraqis have fled the country
since the occupation began in 2003 - most have ended
up in refugee camps in Jordan and Syria. Hundreds of
thousands of Iraqis have also been forcibly
displaced within Iraq's borders.
For more information, contact Dashty Jamal on
07856 032991 or email d.jamal (at) ntlworld.com.
irr org.uk
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