Afghan asylum seekers start legal moves in UK

Afghan asylum seekers start legal moves in UK
REUTERS

LONDON, FEB 15: Dozens of freed Afghan hijack hostages on Tuesday began the long and delicate process of trying to persuade Britain to allow them to stay rather than send them back to their war-scarred homeland.

The refugee legal centre, a small London-based support group, said it was providing legal advice and representation to former hostages seeking asylum in Britain.

Lawyers for the group planned to interview 69 applicants on Tuesday at a holding centre in western England, which is also home to the four flight crew waiting to fly the seized Ariana airlines plane back to Afghanistan. The four-day hijacking ended peacefully last Thursday at a London airport with all of the passengers released unharmed.

But questions have swirled about the motivation of those aboard after 13 were charged with hijacking offences, 73 were flown home to Afghanistan and the rest began the process of seeking asylum in Britain. The reaction of the British government caught in the bind of having to consider the applicantswhile not being seen to encourage similar asylum bids has also come under scrutiny.

An interpreter involved with freed hostages accused Britain of having effectively bullied many to return to Afghanistan.

``It was clear to me from the start that the immigration officers wanted as many out of Britain as fast as they could,'' David Fazel, an industrial engineer used by the government as an interpreter, told the Times newspaper.

The home office rejected the allegations by the translator and similar charges last week by Amnesty International that Britain was contravening its obligations under UN Refugee Conventions by not giving each case adequate consideration.

``Seventy-three people left this country voluntarily and before they did each person was interviewed by the International Organisation for Migration, who would not have helped us if we were forcibly repatriating people,'' a spokesman told Reuters.

``They signed the document in their own language to the effect that they knew they were leavingvoluntarily. If we railroaded so many out, how come so many stayed behind?''

The Afghans seeking to stay were interviewed by immigration officials on Sunday and have five days from the date of their asylum application to make further representations.

Home secretary (Interior Minister) Jack Straw will decide the fate of each case, the home office spokesman said.

A chartered aircraft flew 73 of the former hostages more than half of those on board the hijacked Boeing 727 back to Afghanistan on Monday.Just hours before the plane left Britain, officials said just 17 had indicated they wanted to return to Afghanistan, which is ruled by the purist Islamic Taliban movement.

Fazel said that when the former hostages arrived at the temporary immigration centre, they were split into two groups those who definitely wanted to go back and those asking to stay.

``They descended on the asylum-seekers like a tonne of bricks.The hostages were told that if they wished to stay, things would be very grim,'' Fazelsaid.

He said they were not given time to get legal representation so they could understand their options.

``Those whom they browbeat into going back were made to sign a document saying they were returning `under their own free will''.