Iranian family targeted as part of deportation pilot scheme

Article published: Thursday, August 19th 2010

Manchester College student Farhad Vahidi and his family are facing deportation to Iran as of this Friday 20 August. It is believed the family are part of pilot scheme, on trial in the North West, to deport asylum-seeking families within a few weeks of failed asylum applications as an alternative to child detention.

On June 30, the Vahidi family received a letter from the Home Office declaring that unless they chose to return to Iran themselves arrangements would be made to remove them. Two weeks later officials from the Home Office told the family that they would be removed by July 30. The family were informed that officials would arrive at 6:30am to take them to the airport, with only half an hour permitted for packing their belongings if they were not yet ready.

The initial removal date was cancelled following a statement to the Home Office from Mrs Vahidi’s brother, who on returning to Iran in January this year was arrested and interrogated about the whereabouts of Mr Vahidi.  According to supporters Mr Vahidi was forced to flee Iran in 2007, following unknowing involvement in the leaking of sensitive information connected to his workplace. Despite this initial reprieve the family has since been issued with new removal instructions for Friday August 20 under the same conditions.

Farhad worries that his life could be in danger due to his and his brother’s attendance of a protest against the Iranian government last year outside the BBC building. Supporters say this, along with his father’s fugitive status in Iran, means the family will be under threat of persecution and even death upon returning to Iran.

“We are afraid of returning to Iran”, said Farhad, “If we went back, we would be arrested or tortured or worse. Iran is a battlefield; innocent people are being arrested all the time. Here in the UK, all my friends use Facebook but anyone who uses Facebook in Iran is risking arrest.

“People involved in protests against the Government have been denied access to lawyers. When my father approached a lawyer in Iran to ask if he would represent us if we were deported, he refused saying that he could not take our case because my father is a fugitive from the Government”.

The developments have been met with dismay by refugee rights groups and campaigners. A spokesperson for Manchester-based organisation Refugee and Asylum Seekers Action and Participatory Research (RAPAR) warned “the procedure for removing the family implies they are part of the north west [deportation] pilot scheme”.

The apparent targeting of the family under the scheme highlights a contentious area of new immigration policy brought to public attention in recent weeks.

In a leaked briefing paper drawn up on 27 June by Nicola Rea, head of Refugee and Migration Services at Manchester City Council, a scheme being piloted in the north-west and London proposes to give families denied asylum two weeks to leave the country voluntarily before being served with ‘removal directions’ by the UK Border Agency (UKBA).  The document was intended as a briefing to fellow members of the consortium of local authorities in the north-west carrying out the trial on behalf of the UKBA.

According to the document, migrant families are subsequently to be informed that they will be forcibly removed within two weeks, after which “the family are removed from the property and taken to the airport to board the plane”.

The brief outlines issues which the pilot could pose for public services including the police, healthcare providers and schools. Hard-line solutions to potential public backlash should families “try and build up a form of community protest” are anticipated in the document in the form of advice to agencies involved in the deportation: “The alternative is to not inform the family of the exact time and date of removal, so that they are not prepared.”

The scheme, which apparently fast-tracks the deportation of families, is – according to Rea’s briefing – being piloted under the government review on finding an alternative to child detention.  Part of the coalition agreement contained a provision for the immediate end to the detention of children and recently Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg condemned the practice as a “moral outrage” before the House of Commons.

RAPAR are asking the Home Office to put on hold the removal instructions until the fresh evidence in support of their case has been looked at.

They have also made urgent representations to the family’s MP Sir Gerald Kaufman as well as launching a petition as part of an appeal run by family friends asking the Home Secretary to allow them to stay.

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Comments

1. […] Original article online at the Manchester Mule here […]

   Pingback by Manchester Mule Article : Iranian family targeted as part of deportation pilot scheme « Joe Beech on October 20, 2010 at 7:30 pm

2. […] “All the evidence shows that this family will be in grave danger if they are returned to Iran.” As MULE reported in August, supporters argued that the family were targeted as part of a secretive ‘fast-track’ […]

   Pingback by Iranian family face deportation on Thursday  —   MULE on December 23, 2010 at 2:16 am

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