The trial of four men who were in Harmondsworth IRC at the time of the protest there on 28 November 2006 will open on Monday 14th January 2008 and a demonstration will take place at Southwark Crown Court. The trial was due to begin on 7th January but was postponed as there had been insufficient time for the defence to view all the video evidence


The Support the Harmondsworth 4 campaign is supported by London No Borders, Barbed-Wire Britain, Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism, Crossroads Women's Centre All African Women's Group, Women of Colour in the Global Women's Strike and the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns.

Harmondsworth is run by private company Kalyx, a subsidiary of Sodexho. The protest came the day after the publication of a damning inspection report by Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers into conditions and treatment of detainees at Harmondsworth, and was allegedly triggered by the attempts of members of staff to prevent a group of detainees from watching a news broadcast about the report. Prison riot squads were drafted in and about 50 detainees left in a courtyard all night, while others were locked in their rooms even though parts of the detention centre were on fire.

Enquiries/further information

Dan Collins, 079 4974 6017


Background:

Robert Whalley: 'Report of the Investigation into the disturbances at Harmondsworth and Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centres'.
 http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf/Whalley_report.pdf (pdf file, 496kb)

Liberty report: Excerpts from Witness Statements
 http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/news-and-events/pdfs/excerpts-witness-statements.pdf (pdf file, 128 kb)

Report on an unannounced inspection of Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre
 http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmiprisons/inspect_reports/irc-inspections.html/Harmondsworth1.pdf?view=Binary (pdf file, 464kb)