Friends of an Afghan family who were deported yesterday from Britain to Germany on a chartered plane have pledged to continue fighting on their behalf.
Farid and Feriba Ahmadi and their two children were driven from Harmondsworth detention centre, west London, to an undisclosed airport yesterday morning after losing a final legal bid to stay in Britain. Two blacked-out Ford Transit vans, followed by an estate car and a police escort, were seen leaving the centre at 7.30 a.m. The family were put on a flight to Munich at 9.50 a.m.
Protesters attempted to block the convoy but were moved by police. Mr Paul Rowlands, who with his partner, Ms Soraya Walton, had the children made wards of court, said the campaign would monitor the treatment of the family in Germany. Mr Rowlands said: "This is not the end, it is the start. We're going to follow them to the end of the earth to ensure that the family has a stable environment."
Mr and Mrs Ahmadi had been detained for three weeks since they were forcibly removed from a mosque in Lye, near Stourbridge, where they had sought sanctuary. - (Guardian service)