LONDON, 20 November 2005 — Britain said yesterday it would resume the forced repatriation of failed Iraqi asylum seekers, but declined to give details about numbers or a timetable.
“We did announce our intention to commence the enforced returns program to Iraq in February 2004. We’re working towards putting that in place,” a Home Office Interior Ministry spokesman told AFP. “We’re not confirming the exact details of when returns will take place,” he added.
“We’re currently detaining a number of Iraqi nationals as we work towards preparation for enforced removals. We’re not confirming specifics on numbers,” he said.
On Thursday, Channel 4 television, citing Home Office documents, said the government planned to resume such repatriations this weekend and that about 15 Iraqis would be taken to the northern Iraq town of Arbil.
There are about 7,000 Iraqi asylum seekers in Britain. Until now, they have only been sent home on a voluntary basis.
On another development, Britain has turned down a citizenship application made by alleged “Australian Taleban” David Hicks in a bid to secure release from the US military’s Guantamamo Bay base in Cuba, a report said yesterday.
The Australian national news service AAP said an unnamed member of Hicks’ legal team in London had confirmed that Britain’s Home Office had rejected the application.
The lawyer said the application was denied because Hicks had allegedly performed “an act prejudicial to the interests of the United Kingdom in attending training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan”.
The decision is set to be appealed before a judicial review panel on Wednesday, the report said. The British government negotiated the release of all nine of its citizens held at Guantanamo Bay, while the Australian government has refused to do the same for Hicks, who has been held there for four years.
The 30-year-old convert to Islam was captured in Afghanistan where he allegedly fought alongside the ruling Taleban against US-led forces who invaded after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
Hicks’ application to London came after he made a passing remark to his US military lawyer about his mother’s British citizenship during a discussion on England’s recent Ashes cricket victory over Australia.
He is due to be tried soon by a US military commission on a series of terrorism-related charges, including attempted murder and aiding the enemy, which he denies.
Britain refused to allow any of its citizens to face the widely criticized US military commissions, saying they failed to uphold basic standards of justice.
Hicks’ trial had been scheduled to begin on Friday but a US federal judge ordered the suspension of proceedings this week ahead of an anticipated ruling by the US Supreme Court on the legality of the military tribunals.
