THE INDEPENDENT TUESDAY 06 JANUARY 2015 Sign in Register Apps eBooks i Jobs Dating Shop News > UK > UK Politics NEWS NEWS VIDEO VIDEO PEOPLE PEOPLE VOICES VOICES SPORT SPORT TECH TECH LIFE LIFE PROPERTY PROPERTY ARTS ARTS + ENTS ENTS TRAVEL TRAVEL MONEY MONEY INDYBEST INDYBEST STUDENT STUDENT OFFERS OFFERS UK World Business People Science Environment Media Technology Education Images Obituaries Diary Corrections Newsletter Appeals PRINT A A A The Home Office has been accused of locking up innocent migrants for its own “administrative convenience” after new figures revealed 20 people have been held without trial for at least two years. One detainee has been in custody awaiting deportation for 1,701 days - approaching five years. Three more have been held for three years. Prolonged incarceration poses a serious mental-health risk to detained migrants, many of whom are later allowed to stay in the UK. Last night migration campaigners compared the situation to Guantanamo Bay, where detention without trial has aroused international condemnation. Jerome Phelps, the director of Detention Action, told The Independent: “The US has been widely condemned for detention without trial in Guantanamo, yet the UK stands revealed as locking up migrants for comparable periods in immigration detention centres. These people are detained for deportation, but it stretches credibility to believe that it can take more than four- Migrants detained for up to five years in 'UK Guantanamo Bay', Home Office figures show In total, 20 people have spent more than 53 years in detention JONATHAN OWEN Monday 05 January 2015 Shares: 244 Tour the Somme battlefields with our expert guide Bid now in the third part of our Homeless Veterans charity auction Man of the people? Guess how much Barack Obama paid for a Hawaiian CHARITY APPEAL CHARITY APPEAL NEWS NEWS converted by Web2PDFConvert.com
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THE INDEPENDENT TUESDAY 06 JANUARY 2015 Sign in RegisterApps eBooks i Jobs Dating Shop
UK World Business People Science Environment Media Technology Education Images Obituaries Diary Corrections Newsletter Appeals
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The Home Office has been accused of locking up innocentmigrants for its own “administrative convenience” after newfigures revealed 20 people have been held without trial for atleast two years. One detainee has been in custody awaitingdeportation for 1,701 days - approaching five years. Three morehave been held for three years.
Prolonged incarceration poses a serious mental-health risk todetained migrants, many of whom are later allowed to stay in theUK. Last night migration campaigners compared the situation toGuantanamo Bay, where detention without trial has arousedinternational condemnation.
Jerome Phelps, the director of Detention Action, told TheIndependent: “The US has been widely condemned for detentionwithout trial in Guantanamo, yet the UK stands revealed aslocking up migrants for comparable periods in immigrationdetention centres. These people are detained for deportation, butit stretches credibility to believe that it can take more than four-
Migrants detained for up to five years in 'UK Guantanamo Bay', HomeOffice figures show
In total, 20 people have spent more than 53 years in detention
JONATHAN OWEN Monday 05 January 2015
Shares: 244
Tour the Sommebattlefields withour expert guide
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Yarl’s Wood near Bedford, where many are held solely under immigration powers(Getty)
and-a-half years to deport someone.”
Figures released by the Home Office yesterday following aFreedom of Information request reveal that 20 migrants havespent at least 722 days in detention under immigration powers.
In total, 3,378 people are detained “solely under Immigration Actpowers” - meaning they are not serving time for a criminaloffence - in removal centres such as Yarl's Wood, which has facedallegations of abuse and mistreatment of inmates by staff.
The figures “exclude people detained under both criminal andimmigration powers”, according to the Home Office document,which is a snapshot of the situation in September 2014. Most ofthose in detention are failed asylum-seekers, while others maybe those whose visas may have run out, or people who lived inBritain with indefinite leave to remain until being given adeportation order, say campaigners.
Most long-term detained migrants are often from countries withbarriers to removal such as Somalia, Iran, and Eritrea - all ofwhich are reluctant to provide travel documents to returningnationals. Some will be in detention because they are ex-offenders and considered a “flight risk”. Successful claims againstthe Government for unlawful detention cost the Home Officeseveral millions pounds a year in compensation, with more than£16m paid out in the past four years.
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Moazzam Begg was held in detention in Guantanamo Bay between 2002-5 (PA)
More than 60 per cent of migrants who are detained for morethan a year are ultimately released, not deported, according toMr Phelps.
“The Home Office is simply warehousing unwanted migrants, atvast public expense, causing incalculable damage to their mentalhealth,” he added.
Labour's shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “It isdisgraceful that some people are being detained for over fouryears. No visa or asylum application process should take thatlong. People should either be granted leave to stay in the countryor, if they don't have a right to be here, they should be deported.Such long detention periods benefit nobody - it is traumatic forthose being detained and it is incredibly expensive.”
Don Flynn, the director of Migrants' Rights Network, said:“These 20 people who have spent between two and nearly fiveyears in detention have not been convicted of any criminaloffence. They have been deprived of their liberty for theadministrative convenience of the Home Office.”
One former detainee, Abdal, from Sudan, said: “I was detainedfor three-anda-half years. It was worse than the physical tortureI experienced in my country, because with the torture you get abreak between beatings. You never know when the psychologicalpain of detention will end.”
The 31-year-old is waiting for compensation after winning a HighCourt case for unlawful detention.
The Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather is chairing a cross-party inquiry into immigration detention which will produce itsreport next month. She said: “There can be no justification forlocking people up for years and years for no other reason thanadministrative convenience. Britain is alone in the EU in nothaving a time limit on how long people can be held in immigrationdetention.”
A Home Office spokesman said: “Those with no right to be in theUK should return home. Detention is used as a last resort whenan individual will not leave voluntarily or when there is a riskthey will abscond. When we do detain people it is for theminimum time possible. All detention is reviewed on a regular
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