BRITAIN: Last-minute appeals by lawyers trying to prevent the deportation from the UK of Iraqi asylum seekers have failed to compel the British government to abandon enforced repatriations.
In a late hearing on Friday, however, officials agreed that they would not begin flights at the weekend, as previously planned.
The government was criticised by the high court judge hearing the application in London. Mr Justice Andrew Collins did not grant an order barring the removal of an Iraqi Kurd asylum seeker, Abbas Amin, but he observed that it would be "improper" to enforce the removal of asylum-seekers until a pending court of appeal ruling was determined.
Last week, the Home Office confirmed that it was holding 38 failed Iraqi asylum seekers at immigration centres around the UK and said that these would be returned to northern Iraq shortly. A spokesman yesterday said that "enforced returns" would begin as soon as the practical arrangements were finalised.
Up to 7,000 Iraqis who have been denied asylum are living in the UK. All have been warned that they will be returned.
Human rights groups and refugee agencies have called on the government to delay the process, warning that no part of Iraq is safe from Islamist suicide-bombings and violence.
One Iraqi detainee, Mostapha Kader (31), from Sulaymaniya in northern Iraq, said last week that he had gone on hunger strike in protest at his imminent removal.
"All my body is now shaking. I am not a well person," he said. "That's the best thing, I think - just to end it this way before getting my family into trouble. Are there any human rights in this country?"
Mr Kader explained that he had come to Britain in August 2000 after being threatened by Islamist groups who claimed he was a communist supporter. About 50 Iraqi Kurds detained with him had been told that they were to be flown from London to Irbil in northern Iraq at the weekend, he said.
He added: "I want to go back to my country as soon as my problems are sorted out. I would love to see my family. But I never expected anything like this."
Refugee groups in Germany have warned that other countries might follow Britain's example and initiate a clearance of Iraqi asylum-seekers from the continent.
"We are concerned that other European countries might follow the British example," said a spokesman for Wadi, a German relief organisation which has been active in northern Iraq since 1993.
"In Germany, more than 10,000 Iraqi refugees live in an awkward situation. Immigration authorities regularly put considerable pressure on these people to force them to a 'voluntary' return to Iraq. Wadi fears a copycat effect."