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31st May
Asylum seeker 'held unlawfully'
BBC News
A 15-year-old Afghan asylum seeker has been awarded £11,000 in
compensation after the government conceded he had been "detained
unlawfully". Home Secretary Charles Clarke conceded that the boy
should not have been held at Oakington reception centre, near
Cambridge, in June last year. The High Court on Tuesday was also
told the boy can now stay in the UK at least until his 18th
birthday. The Home Secretary's legal team also agreed to pay the
boy's legal cost.
The £11,000 will be invested in a fund for the destitute
15-year-old Afghan, referred to as "A" for legal reasons, and
the proceeds will be handed over to him when he reaches the age
of 18. It was a dispute over the age of the boy, from the
Nangarghar province of Afghanistan, which led to him being held
at Oakington detention centre near Cambridge for 12 days.
'Clear breach'
He arrived in the UK on his own on 2 June last year and
immediately claimed asylum. The teenager said he was 14 and gave
his date of birth as 1 January 1990, but the immigration
authorities disputed his age and refused to release him from
Oakington until 13 June when forced to do so by a court order.
The Refugee Legal Centre (RLC), a publicly-funded charity which
provides legal services to immigrants and asylum seekers, wrote
to the then Home Secretary David Blunkett saying A should never
have been detained in the first place. It was "a clear breach"
of the Home Secretary's own publicly-stated policy governing the
detention of unaccompanied minors seeking asylum.
Conceded case
In borderline cases, the young asylum seeker is to be given the
benefit of the doubt and dealt with as a minor.
Following the refusal to order A's immediate release, the RLC
sought damages against the Home Secretary, arguing that the
boy's appearance did not strongly suggest he was over 18, and he
should have been given the benefit of the doubt.
The case for damages was due to be heard by Mr Justice Wilkie at
the High Court in London on Wednesday.
But a hearing became unnecessary when the current Home Secretary
conceded that A had been detained unlawfully from 2 to 13 June
last year. |
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