Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Vigil at Home Office - Stop Deportations to Iraq

Peter Marshall | 11.09.2008 22:29 | Iraq | Migration | London | World

Around thirty demonstrators held a lunchtime vigil outside the London Home Office on Thursday 11 Sept, 2008 to oppose the unfair detention and forced removal of Kurdish Iraqi asylum seekers from the UK, which has resulted in an unknown number of deaths. Photographs (C) 2008, Peter Marshall, all rights reserved

Two police keep an eye on demonstrators and photographers
Two police keep an eye on demonstrators and photographers

Mohammad Hussain and Hussein Ali remembered
Mohammad Hussain and Hussein Ali remembered

No to deportation
No to deportation

No, No, No
No, No, No

Victims of war and oppression
Victims of war and oppression

A passionate speaker
A passionate speaker


A Home Office official takes a letter and dossier
A Home Office official takes a letter and dossier


Some Kurds have accepted voluntary return to Iraq, often forced on them because they are prevented from working in this country and have to rely on charity of friends and a few small groups supporting them.

Kalir Salih Abdullah was one, a former fighter of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), he arrived in Britain in 2000, having fled leaving his family of six in Kurdistan. He spent five years pursuing his claim for asylum without success, before desperate circumstances here led him to sign voluntary return papers, and he was returned at the end of March 2005.

In Feb 2006 he was kidnapped outside his home, apparently by the PUK, and his family have since been unable to find out what has happened to him. His teenage daughter, traumatised by his disappearance, committed suicide.

Another Kurdish refugee who arrived in 2000 was Mohammad Hussain who fled here after he received threats on his life from the Kurdish Democratic Party for his political activities. An order was made for his deportation in May this year, despite the fact that he was suffering from terminal cancer. His lawyer made a successful challenge to the order, and he died here on 3 August.

Hussein Ali arrived in this country, seeking asylum, in 2002. On 7 August this year he was forcibly returned to Kurdistan; three days later he committed suicide.

Since 2005, this country has forcibly returned around 500 Iraqi asylum seekers to Kurdistan, claiming despite considerable evidence to the contrary that this was a safe area to which people could be returned without risk. Little information is available about what has happened to most of them - and once they have left Britain there is little evidence that our government gives a damn. Even worse, in July this year they started deporting Iraqi asylum seekers to Baghdad.

Among those present at the vigil outside the Home Office in Westminster today were members of the families of Hussein Ali and Mohammad Hussein. There were a number of speeches in both English and Kurdish; speakers included a representative from the PCS trade union whose members work in the Home Office, and various political and refugee groups that oppose the forced removals. Two people from the Home Office came out to accept a letter and a folder of evidence.

More information on the Coalition Against Deportations to Iraq web site at  http://csdiraq.com

More pictures from the event on My London Diary shortly  http://mylondondiary.co.uk

Peter Marshall
- e-mail: petermarshall@cix.co.uk
- Homepage: http://mylondondiary.co.uk

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech