As many as 30 Kurdish asylum seekers – detained by British police – are set to be deported back to Iraq after their asylum applications were rejected.
The asylum seekers, despite their objections, have been informed by the British government about the Iraqi government’s willingness to take charge of their deportation in the next seven to eight days.
“We have received the Iraqi government’s notice, however we boycotted a meeting with an Iraqi delegation last week in protest against our deportation,” one Kurdish asylum seeker, in Britain since 2007, told NRT.
Aras Rasul, another Kurdish migrant who is from Kirkuk said he sought asylum for ten years in Britain and was deported to Iraq through Baghdad International Airport on Tuesday (April 11).
“British government commandos held me handcuffed inside Royal Jordanian Airlines toilets and I was deported back to Baghdad Airport while facing humiliation and insults,” Rasul told NRT in a phone call.
“I was handcuffed and shackled with my back fastened and head covered to prevent others on-board from hearing me,” he said.
The Secretary of the Iraqi Federation for Migration condemned the “harsh” treatment of the Iraqi and British governments toward the asylum seekers, saying they will file a lawsuit.
A protest is expected to be held outside the British Interior Ministry on Thursday (April 13) in opposition to the deportation of the 30 Kurdish migrants who are in detention.
SOURCE: NRTTV
