Manchester Iraqis demonstrate against forced deportation

"Iraqi refugees demonstrate against deportation in the pouring rain yesterday."

Really ? Well where are they then ? Looks a lot to me like one bloke of Northern European extraction standing with a sign proclaiming Human Rights. Had they all nipped off for a cup of tea ?

sorry, camera doesn't do 360 degree rotation photos. will save up for a new one now you've pointed it out. after all, we need lots more pictures of lots of people standing in groups together, cause its numbers that inspire people, isn't it?...

and actually, there weren't many people there anyway. just the people mainly that are affected by this policy. and the rain.
i'm not into demos myself. but as i was passing, i thought someone should be there to say that it was said.

Yeah good try Heather but I think we all recognise a set up when we see it. Just because you took a picture of your mate with his sign doesn't make it a "protest"

stop trolling. i ain't threatening you.

"chill" ? You bullshit us with a picture of your mate standing outside and try and make a claim for an Iraqi Protest and you ask me to "chill" !

Stop playing games, either get involved in real protest or get back to your Media Studies course.

Violence Erupts across Iraq

 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/040405/325/eqc15.html

Thanks for this report and photo, Heather.

Hey, dotty, how do you KNOW that "it was a set-up" and there was no protest? Were you there? If you weren't, you don't know what you are talking about--do you? So unless you have some evidence to back up your arrogant, ignorant assertions, why don't you do us all a favour and shut the fuck up?

Did you REALLY think that photos of potential Iraqi deportees would be put on the Web to make it easier for immigration to deport them? Dream on. I think it is you who is doing the "setting up" here. If your brain was as big as your mouth, you would have realised that publishing photos of possible potential deportees is not possible.

the photograph I took (and the others which I haven't shown) were all taken with the permission of the people who were photographed and who knew I was going to put the photographs on the internet.

OK then you go right ahead and believe our Media Studies student and her mate. But consider this why when we have a demonstration of Iraqi (how many 1,10, 50, 500??)does a person covering the event decide to take (and post) a picture that shows one person who is not Iraqi and is holding a sighn that does not mention Iraq.

Like I said if you're determined to think it's more than a bored sudent taking the piss go right ahead.

eventually, the bbc arrived too. they filmed and did a report but I don't know if it was shown.

forcible deportation is serious shit. these policies in reality hurt and kill people. the people who were there knew they were being filmed and photographed.

but you are right, chris. filming and photographing people in vulnerable situations is serious. and there is a point to be made that getting a friend to stand there maybe is not a bad thing to protect people. its not about what kind of protest is best or more valuable, dot.

The numbers of Iraqis being deported, and demonstrating would at least be interesting, even if no photos of them are shown.

Just a thought.

there were about 20 people or so there. and none of the usual suspects. the guy i photographed is the one who also posed for the BBC, which is why i used his photograph. I have other photos but i can't remember if i asked absolutely everyone i photographed if it was ok to put the photos on the net, so i'm not going too do it.
contradicting myself, i know, from what i said before. but there are people in the background of pictures and i'm not going to be responsible for some person getting deported.
For stats on the numbers of Iraqis deported, a quick trawl round the Home Office and other net places would be good.
It seems also, (i just read the leaflet) that this demo was organised by the International federation of iraqi Refugees in britain and by the Worker Communist party (which is probably why the SWP weren't there)
these are not my politics, but i don't care.
The point is that this is not a publicity stunt. and that what happens to people matters..
ah, well
back to my media studies (i wish)
remind me next time i'm sat in a pub, watching 20 people in the pouring rain, not to cross the road...........
no worries :)

"Like I said if you're determined to think it's more than a bored sudent taking the piss go right ahead."

-- your not right (in the head) are you?
a bored student taking the piss?
and what do you mean 'media studies' student... shut the fuck up!

Thanks for taking the time to post your info Heather- It can be a thankless task, so well Thanks

Thanks Heather,

I think . is just one of these idiots roaming indymedia to attack anything that is posted regarding Iraq or Palestine, so what he writes is only intended to wind us up, nothing more. But the great thing about these people is they force us to provide more and more information, until they look ridiculous and their original statement becomes ridiculous, so well done for patiently responding to it all.

UK plays roulette with Iraqi refugees
By Arthur Nelsen in London

Tuesday 30 March 2004, 17:27 Makka Time, 14:27 GMT


The British government may have gone to war to defend human rights in Iraq, but it is playing fast and loose with the lives of thousands of Iraqis living on its own doorstep.


Iraqi refugees whose asylum claims have been rejected are now facing the prospect of forced deportation, following a Home Office ruling that Iraq is safe enough for them to return to.

Sadi Husayn, an Iraqi Kurd from Rania, a village near Sulaymaniyah, is one of those under threat.

"I am waiting for a removal order but I will not go back," he says grimly. "If it comes, I will die in this country but I am not going back. They will have to take my body home."

Sadi speaks with an eerie determination that belies his 29 years. He lost one arm in 1991, when he opened a booby-trapped car door during fighting in Kirkuk between the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) fighters and Saddam Hussein's forces.

Traumatised past

Like many young men of his generation, Sadi has been traumatised by an oppressive, oppressed and highly factional Kurdish civil society.



Sadi had family ties to the PUK and joined them to fight Saddam Hussein in 1991. But when he became politically disillusioned and tried to leave the group, he was arrested and, he says, his life was threatened.

Sadi fled to territory controlled by the rival KDP but was arrested again, as a potential PUK spy. Finally, he started editing a newspaper called Kozgur but even there, his independent stance won him enemies.

"When I wrote an article about plans by the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) to kill a leftwing council leader, my family received a letter warning them that if I wrote again, they would kill me," he says. "So I fled the country."

Risky return

"My family wants me to come back now. They keep saying that everyone misses me but I can't return because I know that if I do, I will be killed. Last December, one of my uncles was killed by the PUK. I have documents to prove this."


Despite the documents, Sadi's appeal to stay in the UK was turned down.

Bob Russell, a Liberal Democrat MP and member of the Home Affairs Select Committee, says that Sadi's case is "precisely" the sort that concerns him.

"If a person believes that their life is in danger, then I would always err on their side," he says. "Iraq is not yet a country that is at peace with itself, let alone with those who have fled the country in the last few years.

"I don’t support the forced removals policy because when British soldiers in relatively peaceful parts of the country are still being attacked, I think it is an indication that all is not yet well."

UNHCR warning

Russell's concerns are widely shared. This month, the UNHCR issued new guidelines to governments requesting a ban on forced removals to all parts of Iraq, including those of rejected asylum cases.

Even the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council's Minister of Displacement and Migration, Muhammad Khudair, has called for an end to forced repatriations of refugees until the situation in Iraq improves.


The Foreign Office continues to advise Britons that the country is too dangerous to visit. But the Home Office appears to disagree.

The Home Secretary David Blunkett recently described northern Iraq as "generally overwhelmingly safe" and said that Iraqi asylum seekers had a moral obligation to return to their country to help rebuild it.

Forced deportation

As a Home Office statement sent to Aljazeera.net makes clear, those unwilling to leave voluntarily, may soon have their hand forced.

"The security situation for Iraqis is gradually improving across Iraq," the missive reads. "We have every intention of pursuing an enforced returns policy as soon as conditions allow."

According to Marsha Singh, a Labour MP on the Select Committee: "There are parts of Iraq where security is good and has been for some time, especially in northern Iraq where quite a few asylum seekers come from."

But in Sadi's case, it is the "good" security forces which are threatening his life. Singh admits that the issues in his case are problematic.

"It’s a difficult one, isn't it?" he says, before conceding that the Home Office's advice may be inadequate.

"It’s certainly not sufficient grounds for turning down an appeal," he says. "We see on our TV screens every day that certain parts of the country are still very unsafe."

Doomed deportees


Workers in the field of migrants' rights go further. Keith Best, the director of the Immigration Advisory Service says that, as a result of the new policy, some refugees will "undoubtedly" be sent back to their deaths.

"Heavens above, it's not even safe for the troops!" he exclaims. "You can't send people back to a country that is in such turmoil. It worries me because it is playing with people’s lives."

"How extraordinary to say 'we've come to liberate you over there but we're going to send all the people who've managed to get to the UK back into an unsafe environment.'

"I think it's got more to do with asylum seekers being used as a tool in an unscrupulous media-assisted campaign to convince the public that the government is getting tough on immigration. And I'm afraid it will increase as we get closer to the election."

The unpleasant truth may be that it is just easier for governments and newspapers to care about Iraqi civilians when they are the victims of human rights abuses thousands of miles away, in a land filled with oil.

As Best puts it: "The government and media have created a climate where all asylum seekers are seen as crooks who are here to abuse our benefits system, and that is an evil thing to have done."

 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/60C1E1E9-892B-4EE1-A86D-D33C4922FD20.htm

Heres why the United Nations Refugee committee thinks that Iraqis shouldn't be forcibly deported.

 http://www.ecoi.net/pub/bp77_UNHCR1March04.pdf

Latest guidance on Iraqi asylum seekers

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Kris Janowski – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 16 March 2004, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. UNHCR has issued new guidance to governments on the treatment of Iraqi asylum seekers, requesting a continued ban on forced returns – including rejected cases – to all parts of Iraq until further notice. UNHCR is also recommending that all Iraqi asylum seekers continue to be granted some form of temporary protection.

The advice follows similar recommendations issued in March, June, July, August and November 2003.

Iraq's Minister of Displacement and Migration, Mohammed J. Khodair, has specifically requested that UNHCR urge host countries not to encourage or force refugees to return to Iraq until the situation has improved.

The new advice draws attention to the generalized climate of instability and insecurity in Iraq, noting that "security incidents … a continue with alarming frequency" and are increasingly targeted at Iraqis perceived to be supporting or collaborating with the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Such targets include policemen, religious and community leaders, national staff working for foreign organizations, as well as the KDP and PUK administrators in Northern Iraq.

UNHCR also notes the potential for increased violence, given the persistence of extremist elements and tensions among Iraq's various ethnic and religious groups. This includes northern Iraq, which continues to experience sectarian tensions and land ownership problems related to the former regime's practice of large-scale forced displacement.

In addition to the security situation, there is a severe lack of housing, irregular provision of basic services, no effective judicial system or financial institutions, and an unemployment rate running as high as 60-70 percent.

Even though some voluntary repatriation movements have taken place, mainly to southern Iraq from Iran and from Rafha Camp in Saudi Arabia, UNHCR stresses that it is not promoting voluntary returns yet. We are, however, continuing to facilitate – as far as we are able under present circumstances – the return of individuals who express a clear wish to repatriate.

UNHCR stresses that, with no international staff inside the country, we are not in a position to monitor returnees, nor to provide them with any assistance once they are inside Iraq. UNHCR has, therefore, requested governments not to adopt any measures which are intended to encourage voluntary returns, including of rejected cases.

UNHCR has asked governments which have decided to resume the processing of asylum claims by Iraqis to take into consideration compelling reasons for non-return arising out of past persecution, as well as current international protection needs, including in particular persecution by non-state agents.

UNHCR will continue to watch the situation closely and, when appropriate, adapt its advice according to changing circumstances inside Iraq.

 http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/iraq?page=news&id=4056eddf4

For mr "That man in the picture is not Iraqi", I would just like to clarify that the man in the pic is infact an Iraqi Kurd and the reason why he has European looks, dumb ass, is because Kurds are an indo European race!!

Not all Iraqi's originate from the Arab race, you idiot and for you uneducated people, Kurds also have their own language, cultural traits and so -forth which are independant from Arabs in Iraq.

There were more people at that demo, sadly the so-called left wing don't see fighting for Iraqi refugees as being sexy enough to warrant their attention and for people who attack the Federation for Iraqi Refugees, my question to you is where are your demos to protect Iraqi people, or is just a case of "we know what's good for you so shut up".

Looking 'miserable' in Iraq? It's looking positive in Iraq for the first time in a year. The resistance is organising itself and we really need to support it. Why no action from the left in Manchester in solidarity with this week's positive developments? Iraq Solidarity Campaign, where are you? Hussain?!?

LB asked in his question where was the Iraq Solidarity Campaign in this present crisis?

The question is why dont you get involved and help the Iraq Solidarity Campaign????

Secondly, where were you when sanctions were killing people in the 1990's, when the Coalition Against Sanctions and War on Iraq was the only group campaigning on this issue and during the eighties in the Campaign Against Repression and for Democratic Rights in Iraq.

I don't agree with Hussian on many things but you found him there!

Secret UN report warns of deadly risks over repatriation

Kamal Ahmed and Martin Bright
Sunday April 18, 2004
The Observer

Controversial plans by Britain to 'enforceably repatriate' hundreds of Iraqis who fled persecution by Saddam Hussein have been suspended following warnings that the policy could see people being sent back to their deaths.
Home Office officials were due to start flying Iraqi asylum seekers back to their country at the end of this month, despite growing violence there which has seen hundreds of Iraqis killed and thousands more injured in the past fortnight.

But last night a spokeswoman admitted the target date would no longer be met, as a memorandum obtained by The Observer showed that the United Nations gave a stark warning to the Government last month that the 'climate of instability' meant any plans to force people living in Britain back to Iraq should be abandoned.

'Despite the arrest of Saddam Hussein and the timetable for the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty, a climate of insecurity continues in Iraq,' says the memo, dated 1 March and sent to senior UN staff. 'Security incidents targeting both coalition forces and, increasingly, Iraqis continue with alarming frequency. These frequently result in the death or serious injury of the targeted individuals as well as other civilians.

'The last few months have also seen an increase in reported kidnappings, especially of women.'

The memo, from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), also warns of 'extreme violence' in Iraq.

Britain was the first country to say it would start forcibly removing Iraqis who had sought asylum while Saddam was still in power. The former Immigration Minister, Beverley Hughes, said the first 30 Iraqis would be sent back in April, a date since abandoned.

A voluntary repatriation scheme has also been dropped. Since June 2003, the Government has been offering Iraqis living in Britain money to return home. Only 200 of the thousands of Iraqi asylum seekers in the country have taken up the offer.

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said it would be wrong for the Home Office to continue forced removals. There needed to be a 'sensible consideration' of any Iraqi asylum seekers still in Britain.

Many are former dissidents who could still be a target of Baathist loyalists and terrorists trying to force American and British forces out of Iraq.

UN officials say that if people are forced back there is no support mechanism in the country. The UNHCR has no staff in Iraq because it believes the danger is too great.

'It would be grossly premature for the Home Secretary to send failed asylum seekers back to Iraq while hostilities there continue,' Kennedy said in an article for The Observer .

David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, announced the repatriation scheme last year as part of a 'get tough' policy on immigration. He will face fresh embarrassment over immigration this week when a central plank of Labour's asylum policy is dumped.

Lord Falconer, the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, will announce that plans to stop failed asylum seekers making multiple appeals against deportation will be abandoned.


Instead the Government will agree that asylum seekers will be able to use the courts to appeal against decisions by the Immigration Appeals Tribunal.

The move comes after Lord Woolf, the Lord Chief Justice and most senior judge in England and Wales, said the plans were 'unconstitutional' and should be thrown out.

At first Blunkett said he would not compromise but was warned that the Bill faced defeat in the Lords and might never be made law.

Now the Government will propose strict time limits on when failed asylum seekers can appeal in an attempt to stop them 'playing the system' and remaining in the country as lengthy appeals processes are exhausted.

This week the appeals system will be tested to the limit when the Home Office attempts to strip the controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza of his British citizenship. Hamza, an Egyptian by birth, is wanted in Yemen on terrorist charges. He will appear before a Special Immi gration Appeals Tribunal in London which deals with deportation cases.

Hamza is said to have fought in Afghanistan, where he received serious injuries to his hands. He first came to public attention when his son was imprisoned with a group of young British Muslims found in possession of explosives and accused of membership of a Islamic militant group. Hamza, real name Mustapha Kemal, became a UK national after he married a British woman.

Several foreign terror suspects are being held without charge in high-security jails in Britain in part because they are his known associates.

The intelligence services are frustrated that Hamza cannot be detained because he is British, when he is seen as a threat to national security. Yet he has been charged with no crime.