Jamie Doward, home affairs editor
The Observer, Sunday March 30 2008
The Home Office is facing mounting criticism for deciding to forcibly return 50 failed asylum seekers to Iraq. The men were removed last Thursday from Campsfield and Colnbrook detention centres under escort.
They were deported to Irbil in northern Iraq. The British government claims the region is safe, but human rights campaigners warn it is becoming increasingly dangerous. It has emerged that one failed asylum seeker, Solyman Rashid, who was returned from Britain after his appeal was rejected, was killed by a car bomb in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, last September.
Dashty Jamal, of the International Federation of Iraq Refugees, said his organisation had spoken to several of the men since they were returned in handcuffs on Thursday night. A number were from Mosul and Kirkuk, both cities that are riven by violence. There were also unsubstantiated reports that several were from Baghdad.
A Home Office spokeswoman confirmed the flight had taken place: ‘Fifty Iraqi nationals were removed from the UK on a charter flight.’ Campaigners said they were alarmed the government was returning Iraqi asylum seekers from Kirkuk and Mosul. This month 55 people were killed by a bomb in Mosul.
Human rights groups called on the government to monitor what happened to them. ‘Iraq cannot be considered a safe place,’ said Dr Frank Arnold, a senior clinical medical adviser with the Medical Justice Network. ‘We demand that the government adequately monitors what happens to those returned. But they have constantly failed to do this.’
The United Nations has urged Britain to show restraint. ‘We advise against returning people to Kirkuk,’ a UN spokeswoman said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/30/immigrationpolicy.immigration
41 responses so far ↓
Michael Woods // April 14, 2008 at 1:38 pm
It is quite obvious that while seeking to enact more and more draconian laws with which to tighten the grip on us, and;
While many are sent to jail for minor misdemeanors, and;
Even such luminaries as the Speaker of the House appears to have ignored some financial excesses by his own wife using our money, and;
This same government lied in order to get us to fight an unjust war, and;
Now they ignore their own rules and the advice of the UN by returning helpless people to their deaths.
I cannot believe I helped vote this mess into power.
Angus McKay // April 15, 2008 at 7:21 pm
How overjoyed and elated I am that our superb Home Office has accomplished the praiseworthy deed of returning 50 failed asylum seekers to Iraq. Well done, chaps.
Of course they had to be removed under escort or they would have run away. That makes sense, surely.
If our fine government claims Irbil in northern Iraq is safe, then it’s safe.
Solyman Rashid was killed by a car bomb in Kirkuk, northern Iraq, last September? That’s about eight months ago. What’s that got to do with now?
If several of the men were ‘returned in handcuffs’ then so be it. Our immigration officers have to be protected. ‘unsubstantiated reports that several were from Baghdad’. If the reports were ‘unsubstantiated’ then the reference should not be used in the article.
‘This month 55 people were killed by a bomb in Mosul.’ There is a war going on in Iraq. Our soldiers are being killed. What is Britain supposed to do? Bring the whole population of Mosul over here?
Why should the government monitor what happens to those returned? We’ve just managed to deport them. No longer our problem. Out of sight, out of mind, cheerio, start working, provide for yourselves and your families and sort out your own country.
I urge Britain not to show restraint. Speed up the deportations.
Michael Woods // April 17, 2008 at 1:09 pm
shagnus you are a very sick person, seek help.
The phrase you used above - “No longer our problem. Out of sight, out of mind, cheerio,” - is exactly the kind of sociopathic rambling which, although sickening in it’s sheer pathology will ultimately win the fight for asylum-seekers.
Merely because you and your ilk are so unmoved by the suffering of others that no right-minded people will want to be associated with the likes of you and your views.
You reap the benefits of a compassionate and caring society which has looked after you for your entire life whilst seeking to deny some of those benefits to others in their time of need. This alone is enough to condemn you but your gloating puts you utterly beyond the pale.
I find that persons such as you usually have deep-seated religious convictions - well then you will be judged won’t you ?
shuck // April 17, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Mr Woods,
The UK Government has a legal right and duty to our society to remove any foreign national who has no legal basis to remain here.
You really do have to enter the real world and realise that these people have no right to be here and have been returned to a safe zone within Iraq.
In relation to your expressed views, you and your like are most definately in the minority as the vast majority of UK citizens are sick and tired of the leeches who come to the UK not as genuine asylum seekers but 100% economic migrants.
Its as simple as that!
Angus McKay // April 19, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Michelle,
Let’s see now. Let’s separate Michelle Woods customary insults from the comment …….
……. ‘shagnus you are a very sick person, seek help’ ‘sociopathic rambling which, although sickening in it’s sheer pathology’ ‘you and your ilk are so unmoved by the suffering of others’
‘your gloating puts you utterly beyond the pale’ ‘persons such as you usually have deep-seated religious convictions ’.
What have we left?
‘You reap the benefits of a compassionate and caring society which has looked after you for your entire life whilst seeking to deny some of those benefits to others in their time of need’ …..
….. Correction. Our society has not looked after me. I and others have put into our society (an investment) and received in exchange support when required (not always). Point is, the 50 Iraqi deportees have contributed nothing to our society - they have lived off our society at no cost to themselves. Our society has now decided that the 50 failed asylum seekers have no justification to continue living off our society. They have been deported. The vast sum of money which our society has spent on these 50 failed asylum seekers can hopefully now be used to assist our own people in their time of need.
‘ultimately win the fight for asylum-seekers’ …..
….. Asylum seekers have lost their fight to gain entry and stay in Britain and live off our society. The massive build-up of economic migrants from the Eastern Bloc has resulted in pressure on the government from the right-minded indigenous people to curb and remove immigrants. The asylum seekers will rightfully go.
You and your ilk will no longer be able to pressurize others with your comical insults of racist, racist, racist, etc.
Michael Woods // April 20, 2008 at 3:51 pm
shagnus, whichever way you try to justify your apalling attitudes toward the needy you are destined eventually to fail.
I feel that you see benefits as a pot to which only you and your mates should have any claim. You feel that others dipping in to that pot ultimately deprives you of the full entitlement and you therefore defend your claim by ridding the area of others.
This is a very wealthy country. There is enough for both you and those others.
shuck // April 20, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Mr Woodened,
You fail to realise that these Iraqis have no right to be in the UK and were legally REMOVED.
Your argument lacks any basis or credibility and it is obvious you do not understand the underlying issues surrounding immigrtion.
However much you try to argue your point on this site it is clear that the only weapon in your armoury is your ignorance.
Michael Woods // April 21, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I then refer you to your own previous inaccurate comments.
shuck // April 21, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Is that it Mr Woodened?
Everything I say on this site is accurate, its only when your own knowledge is severely lacking that you begin to abuse people.
Why don’t you read more on immigration and asylum it may help you understand the issues at hand?
Angus McKay // April 21, 2008 at 8:49 pm
michelle,
I do not a have an appalling attitude toward the needy. I seek to give more of the British taxpayers’ finance to the indigenous British needy. I seek to achieve this through supporting the growing deportation of all failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.
Enforced speedy deportation (‘ridding the area of those who have no right to be here’) would allow vast sums of cash, currently being squandered on illegals, to be made available to Britain’s own sick, homeless, poor, = needy.
I view benefits as a pot to which the British indigenous people are entitled in time of need. I feel that others (illegals) dipping in to that pot ultimately deprive Britain’s own people of their full entitlement.
Britain may be a wealthy country. There is extreme poverty within Britain’s indigenous communities (have you noticed or do you only see asylum seekers)? Is there enough for Britain’s own people? Not as long as those others - illegals - keep dipping into the pot.
michelle, I feel that you neither care for immigrants nor the indigenous. You are incapable of caring. You are a fraud.
Michael Woods // April 22, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I then refer you to your own previous intolerant comments.
shuck // April 22, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Mr Woodened,
Due to your inability to grasp the real issues here, it is ovious that you have lost both the battle and the war.
Better luck next time!
Michael Woods // April 23, 2008 at 6:38 pm
shagnus I again refer you to your previous episodes of verbalised intolerance.
shuck // April 23, 2008 at 9:02 pm
You have nothing to say.
Angus McKay // April 25, 2008 at 8:54 am
Hey, michelle,
woodened,
Wake up - pay attention,
shuck is addressing you.
shuck // April 25, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Are you there old woodened? You can’t win them all—- In fact, you can’t win any!!!!!!!
Michael Woods // April 28, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I refer you to your comprehensive collection of my previous comments.
Angus McKay // April 28, 2008 at 7:02 pm
michelle,
will this do as a referral to one of your previous comments …..
Michael Woods // December 28, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I very, very sorry mr Woods sir and I promise to stop blogging to myself in the New Year.
Michael Woods // May 1, 2008 at 5:08 pm
I just knew you’d saved everything i’ve posted. This does’nt mean we’re engaged though.
Delete them and move on.
Angus McKay // May 1, 2008 at 6:00 pm
‘Delete them and move on.’ - destroy the evidence - most certainly not.
‘engaged’ - most certainly not.
Michael Woods // May 1, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I am truly flattered you wish to archive my comments so keep them and move on then.
big bob // May 2, 2008 at 6:54 pm
shug,
well said mate. people should really learn about what they are talking about. michael do u pay taxes??? or you still stayin at ur mums no doubt free loading, leave space in the country for genuine asylums seekers and removal all the asylum shoppers and free loading illeagals.
nuff said
Angus McKay // May 2, 2008 at 9:02 pm
michelle,
‘flattered’ you may well be. Most others would have been deeply ashamed to have been the author of such vile, witless comments. You were exposed for publishing similar obscene comments on the newspaper forums under the disguise of other posters’ names.
PAiH website invites and allows comments from others even if said comments are at odds with PAiH agenda. All are allowed to express views, including yourself. Your failing is that you are unable to challenge / contradict comments without resorting to insult.
michelle, time for you to move on - leave the forums.
Michael Woods // May 3, 2008 at 11:40 am
Shagnus I really think you should move on from this obsession with me and just comment on the asylum situation.
I further think you and your other personality BLOCKUP should read a dictionary occasionally for the actual definition of your favourite words - obscene, vile etc.
Even our judges are ruling against the unfair and unlawful immigration policies forced on us by the thuglike borders gestapo you love to suck up to.
Your hysterical knee-jerk reaction to immigrants has been shown to be bankrupt and just plain wrong, by exaggerating the figures you and your ilk have shot your bolts and now will have to argue the real, much reduced figures.
So concentrate on that subject and try to get the words right next time.
Michael Woods // May 4, 2008 at 2:03 pm
bob.
Yes I pay plenty of income tax, certainly enough to keep you in the manner to which you have become accustomed, my mum lives 400 miles from me so living with her is not possible, and you know absolutely nothing about either me or the people you disrespect at a safe distance on the web.
Your ignorant comments put you firmly in the shagnus/blockup bigot club.
You have no evidence that any of the asylum-seekers are freeloading whereas I have plenty that many local people are and have done for all of their adult lives.
You live in the flimsiest of glass houses so it’s probably best not to throw stones.
Angus McKay // May 4, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Obsession with you? - certainly not. You’ve lavished self-flattery on your comments and now more self-flattery lavished on yourself. michelle, I really think you should move on from this obsession with yourself. Truth is, you’re such an unlikeable individual.
Now, let‘s have a look at that dictionary.
vile: abominably wicked, shameful or evil. Your insults of ’thuglike borders gestapo’ aimed at our immigration officers are ‘vile’.
obscene: offensive or outrageous to accepted standard of decency. On my comment (April 12, 2008 at 2:18 pm, this website) I quoted an anti-gay comment from yourself. You used a gay reference to demean another poster on the newspaper forums. The moderator deleted the comment because your comment was ‘outrageous to accepted standard of decency’.
And you got it wrong, again! Our judges are not ruling against our immigration policies. Immigrants are refusing to accept our judges’ rulings. And why would I ‘love to suck up to thuglike borders gestapo’ (more usage of your vile words) - I respect our immigration officers - I have nothing to fear.
‘by exaggerating the figures you and your ilk’ - quote me the figures I have supposedly exaggerated.
You ‘get the words right next time’ - ‘thuglike’ is not a word (you should have used thuggish - note, not my description) You ‘should read a dictionary occasionally’.
‘bolts’ - more DIY - careful now - remember the mess you made of your last DIY instructions on how to break down a door.
shuck // May 5, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Old woodened———– is it not time to give up posting on this site as it is obvious your intellect is severely lacking and you are being shown for what you really are?
Michael Woods // May 6, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Glad to see shagnus that you use the words “our immigration officers are ‘vile’”
I agree they are.
You really should try to be more tolerant of the gay community because your comment was ‘outrageous to accepted standards of decency’, I think you’ve confused yourself again because so many of your comments have been deleted.
And extend that to our guest communities and we might make a citizen of you yet.
Michael Woods // May 6, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Shagnus,
please give up the obsessiveness and compulsive behaviour, keeping thousands of posts the way you do is just plain wierd.
Use some of that energy in the service of people instead of against them and I’m sure you’ll feel fulfilled rather than bitter. Perhaps take up Jamies’s offer to do voluntary work with asylum-seekers.
shuck // May 7, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Mr Woodened,
Surely even you know that there is an archive on this site which is accessible to all.
Therefore, I would doubt that anyone would have to, need to, or want to keep the drivell posted on this site by yourself.
Angus McKay // May 7, 2008 at 8:33 pm
michelle,
No, you got it wrong again. I’ll repeat it for you .. YOUR insults of ’thuglike borders gestapo’ aimed at our immigration officers are ‘vile’. Do you understand? Wake up, pay attention.
And you’ve got it wrong again. The deleted gay comment was YOUR comment. You’re confused and frustrated - you’re devouring too much of your wacky backy.
You abhor the gay community. I’ll repeat your latest anti-gay comments on this forum - they will probably be deleted.
You posted:- ‘wullie the nancyboy, racist bumbandit, jingoistic, brown-noser.’
However, anyone wishing to read michelle wood’s anti-gay comments can click into ‘Granted asylum: the Eritrean athletes ready to run for Scotland’ which you will find on this website (PAiH). Scroll down to Posted by: Micha*l Wo*ds, Drumchapel on 8:05pm Tue 6 May 08. There you will find the latest michelle obscene and vile anti-gay comment aimed at another poster.
michelle, you are seriously mentally sick.
Angus McKay // May 7, 2008 at 8:35 pm
There is no requirement for anyone to keep your ‘thousands of posts’ they are stored on the internet - you posted them - don’t you remember. Posting your vile and obscene comments all over the forums the way you do is just plain weird.
‘energy’ … yeah, I have bags of stamina, brimming over with good health, physically and mentally healthy, oh how you must envy me.
‘Jamies’? - who he?
Angus McKay // May 7, 2008 at 8:36 pm
michelle, you forgot to reply to my question, here it is again.
You lied:- ‘by exaggerating the figures you and your ilk’
I asked:- quote me the figures I have supposedly exaggerated.
Now you answer.
Here’s another one of your lies.
You lied:- ‘so many of your comments have been deleted’
I am asking:- quote me some of my comments which have been deleted.
Now you answer.
Don’t forget, woodened.
Michael Woods // May 8, 2008 at 11:03 pm
shagnus, when you say ” ’thuglike borders gestapo’ … our immigration officers are ‘vile’ ”
it is obvious you share my revulsion at their thuggish tactics.
Your excoriation of wullie is frankly strange as I previously felt you were in cohorts. Still its better this way, well done.
And do try to accept those who are different from you.
Angus McKay // May 8, 2008 at 11:21 pm
michelle,
Is that the best response from you ……
Lie lie and lie.
You really are a piece of lowlife.
Michael Woods // May 9, 2008 at 3:55 pm
shagnus I really feel that as you are incapable of rational discussion and resort to the above tactics that you should again be heavily moderated. Do please try to control yourself and discuss the issues only.
shuck // May 9, 2008 at 6:10 pm
That advice coming from you woodened seems a little bit pathetic.
Angus McKay // May 11, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Lying michelle,
I really feel that as you are incapable of rational discussion and resort to your above highly abusive insults aimed at the gay community, which the moderator has rightly allowed to stand, that you should be banned permanently from this website. As you are unable to control yourself from insulting other posters and falsely accuse them of making non-existing statements, you have become a serious embarrassment and a liability to Positive Action in Housing.
Angus McKay // May 11, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Hi shuck,
It’s obvious the illegals are losing and will lose the battle and the war (their desperation to stay in Britain) with the likes of michelle woodened supporting them. Take away the insults from michelle’s comments and little substance remains.
Nice to see in the re-designing of the website, we’ve been given nice, wee, colourful personal logos next to our names. Welcome change from the wee jelly baby men/women we had. Makes one feel quite important that we’re being granted the recognition we deserve. Another welcome upshot is that the mugshot of michelle has been removed. It would be reassuring to know that PAiH have accepted that michelle woodened is continuing to damage their image with his repugnant comments on the newspaper forums and on this website. Have you managed to read michelle‘s comments on The Herald article, ‘Granted asylum: the Eritrean athletes ready to run for Scotland’? michelle is totally out of control.
shuck, best ignore michelle - she/he is now known in the newspaper forums as working for PAiH - michelle is being ignored.
Angus McKay // May 11, 2008 at 1:54 pm
To the moderator(s)
Congratulations on PAiH updated website. Easy on the eye layout and nice colour harmony.
Well done to your web designers.
Michael Woods // May 12, 2008 at 6:06 pm
So many of your comments have been deleted, here and elsewhere, shagnus that I’m surprised you can keep track.
Whereas I have never had even one removed.
Your bigotry against asylum seekers can only be rooted in distrust of “other” and probably the fear that they will erode society’s benefits on which you must forever depend.
Your financial insecurity and dependance on the state shows most when you decry those seeking sanctuary as “economic migrants”, obviously the pursuit of money is at the forefront of your mind and you therefore feel it must be so for the “others”.
That is so sad !
Get out and see the daylight, smell the blossom and join the happy throng shaggy, lurk no more in cyberspace like a virtual troll.
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