Driven to Desperate Measures: 2006-2010s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wpmedia.outlandish.com/irr/2017/04/... · Driven to Desperate Measures: 2006-2010 P3 Racial violence Migrants who

Driven to Desperate Measures:2006-2010By Harmit Athwal

Driven to Desperate Measures: 2006-2010 P2

n 15 died taking dangerous and highly riskymethods to enter the country. With legal barri-ers in place to prevent them securing visas orwork permits to enter legally and sanctionsapplying to aboveboard carriers, the desperatestow away on planes and lorries or attempt tocross the channel in makeshift boats or cling totrains. The number recorded here is probablyonly a fraction of those who have died in thisway. Our figures rely on news reports and, byvirtue of the subject matter, these deaths arenot news.

l 44 died as an indirect consequence of theiniquities of the immigration/asylum system –by taking their own lives when claims werenot allowed, by meeting accidental deathsevading deportation or during the deportationitself, by being prevented medical care, bybecoming destitute in the UK.Of these:

– 28 died at their own hand, preferring this tobeing returned to the country they fled, whenasylum claims were turned down. And com-pounding the process is the fact that some ofthose in detention and known to be trauma-tised and particularly vulnerable appear not tohave been provided with the medical (especial-ly psychiatric) support they needed.

– 1 died accidentally as, in terror after a raidby police and immigration officials, he tookevasive action.

– 1 person died during the deportation processitself as he was being deported to Luanda

Angola escorted by three guards from G4S, aprivate security company.

- 4 people died after being deported back to acountry where they feared for their safety. Theactual number is certainly far higher.

– 7 people died because of being deniedhealthcare for preventable medical problems.

– 2 people died destitute and unable to accessservices.

– 1 baby died as a result of possible safety fail-ings of a housing provider contracted by theUK Border Agency (UKBA).

u 6 died in prison custody, either being heldfor deportation or while awaiting trial or serv-ing sentences for charges involving fasle doc-umentation.

s 4 died in the course of carrying out workwhich, by virtue of its being part of the ‘blackeconomy’, carried particular dangers and fewprotective rights. (The numbers listed here areprobably a gross underestimate, as work-relat-ed deaths of people who are ‘illegal’ will oftengo unreported in the media.)

Q 7 died on the streets of our cities at thehands of racists or as a consequence of alter-cations with a racial dimension. Often the vic-tims had been moved, via the government’sdispersal system, to areas where they wereparticularly isolated and vulnerable to attack.

IntroductionNo section of our society is more vulnerable than asylum seekers and undocumented migrants.Forced by circumstances beyond their control to seek a life outside their home countries, prevent-ed by our laws from entering legally and from working, denied a fair hearing by the asylum sys-tem, excluded from health and safety protection at work, kept from social care and welfare,unhoused and destitute, vilified by the media and therefore dehumanised in the popular imagi-nation, their hopes of another life are finally extinguished. The IRR has catalogued a roll call ofdeath of the 76 asylum seekers and migrants who have died either in the UK or attempting toreach the UK in the past five years as a consequence of direct racism or indirect racism stemmingfrom policies.*

* These deaths do not include those ‘settled’ black people, those with leave to remain who have met their death inthe custody of the police, prison and psychiatric hospitals and in racial violence attacks.


Racial violence

Migrants who move to find work and asylumseekers dispersed by official policy are oftenisolated and at risk from racist attacks in tra-ditionally white, rural communities and evensome larger towns. Five migrant workers havedied since 2006 following attacks with racialmotives. In March 2009, Kunal Mohanty, anIndian sailor died after his throat was slit in astreet attack in Glasgow. Also in 2009 MarekMuszynski, a Polish migrant worker, died fol-lowing an attack in Newry, Northern Ireland.Adam Michalski, a Polish migrant worker, wasstabbed to death in Wrexham in 2007 andGregory Fernandes, another Indian sailor, diedfrom a heart attack following a gang attack inHampshire in the same year. In 2006 two men,Khizar Hayat and Hamidi Hamidullah, died fol-lowing an arson attack on the shop where theywere working. In August 2006, Wei Wang aChinese asylum seeker, was murdered inGlasgow. The IRR documented racially motivat-ed attacks and murders in its recent reportRacial violence: the buried issue, which showedthat asylum seekers and migrant workers weregroups prone to such violence.1 Recent attackswith a probable racial motive include:

* February 2010: A 27-year-old Eritrean asy-lum seeker was punched and racially abusedand spat at after refusing to give two menmoney in Plymouth.2

* March 2010: A Polish man suffered seriousinjuries after he was run over by a man in athree-ton truck. The assailant shouted at hisvictim to get a job after spying him rootingthrough a bin outside a KFC in Hull.3

* July 2009: Kurdish asylum seeker ZankoHamamin had burning paper pushed throughhis letterbox as part of a campaign of racialharassment by two women in Stockton. Thewomen had also scrawled racist comments out-side the house. One of the women, who livedtwo doors away, had regularly racially abusedasylum seekers.4

Asylum seekers and self-harm

Many asylum seekers make serious attempts to

take their own life or to injure themselves.These attempts take place in the communityand at removal centres on a daily basis. Recentresearch by the charity Medical Justice docu-mented suicide attempts by young childrenheld in removal centres and the numerous med-ical harms suffered by children (and their fam-ilies) as a result of detention.5

Freedom of Information requests on self-harm in immigration detention made by FreeMovement6 found a 25 per cent increase in self-harming between 2008 and 2009, with 215incidents of self-harm requiring medical treat-ment in 2009, compared to 179 incidents in2008. And figures for April/May/June 2010showed a significant increase of self-harm atcertain removal centres, with Dover removalcentre showing a 125 per cent increase of inci-dents of self-harm requiring medical treatmenton the previous quarter.7 We list below just afew of the serious but non-fatal self-harm inci-dents over the last two years:

* December 2009: A 19-year-old asylumseeker from Afghanistan set himself alight out-side Waterside House, a UKBA office in Leeds.The young man was taken from Leeds GeneralInfirmary to a specialist burns unit inWakefield in a critical condition.8

* November 2009: A 30-year-old Iraqi manslashed his stomach with a knife at a UKBAoffice in Brand Street, Glasgow, as he went toreport at the centre. The self-harm attempt wasa protest against the length of time beingtaken over his asylum claim.9

* October 2009: Ibrahim Ali Karim attemptedto take his own life while being held atColnbrook removal centre near Heathrow. Hehad just been told that he was to be deportedthe following day to Northern Iraq.10

* October 2009: A 10-year-old Nigerian girldetained with her mother at Tinsley Houseremoval centre near Gatwick airport attemptedto strangle herself.11

* September 2009: Abdel Zahali, 51, anAlgerian asylum seeker, threatened to set him-self alight after dousing his clothes with petrolin the offices of Liverpool MP Louise Ellman

Notes on deaths and those at risk


after being told his asylum claim had beenrefused. In December 2009, he was jailed for10 months for affray in connection with theincident.12

* March 2009: A Nigerian man threatened tothrow himself from the top of a house inBarnsley after his wife and two children werearrested in an immigration raid.13

* February 2009: An 18-year-oldZimbabwean girl tried to hang herself whileshe, her sister and mother were being held atYarl’s Wood removal centre. Guards broke intothe room and she was resuscitated.14

* January 2009: A detainee from the DRC atCampsfield House removal centre near Oxfordslit his own throat. Other detainees reportedthat the man had been refusing food for over aweek and had openly stated his intention totake his own life.15

* February 2008: A 34-year-old African man,Amadou Nyang, repeatedly hit his head againstthe wall in his cell at Tinsley House removalcentre (near Gatwick airport) and broke threevertebrae in his neck, leaving him paralysedfrom the neck down.16

Medical causes

The provision of health care to migrants andasylum seekers has become a political hotpotato, particularly after the deportation ofterminally ill Ama Sumani to Ghana in January2008. She died weeks later.

According to our records, a gross underesti-mate of the total problem, at least 7 asylumseekers have died as a result of being deniedaccess to treatment. These deaths includethose of 18-year-old Mohammed Ahmedi, whodied from a heart condition as medical staffand social workers attempted to clarify hisimmigration status, and Mohammed Ali, an 80-year-old man who was entitled to free NHStreatment and yet was still pursued by debtcollectors sent by the NHS for treatment he hadreceived for cancer.

There have also been a number of deaths inprison and one in a removal centre where thecare received has been questionable. For exam-ple the inquest into the death of AlekseyBaranovsky at Rye Hill prison was highly criti-cal of the care he received while he was held atthe prison pending his deportation. Theinquest following the death of 18-year-old

Joker Idris at Chelmsford prison was againhighly critical of the care he received andfound numerous systemic and individual fail-ures by prison staff and Essex social services.

Raids and flight from arrest

In the last four years, thankfully, only one per-son, Frank Odame (2008), has died following araid by UKBA staff and police, despite the factthe UKBA has increased the number of raids itcarries out, at all times of the day at work-places (restaurants, takeaways, shops, facto-ries) and private homes. A cursory glance atthe UKBA website17 which lists press releaseson recent raids, shows that over one eleven-day period, from 28 September to 8 October2008, thirty-two people were arrested ineleven raids across the UK. Raids on workplacesand arrests of those working ‘illegally’ make forgood PR for the UKBA - they are doing some-thing and people are being deported.18

However the pressure to round people upappears to result in more people being injured.We list below raids some by police and UKBAwhich have resulted in serious injuries:

* July 2010: Two men, thought to bePakistani, suffered injuries and were taken tohospital following an immigration raid by theUKBA in Balham, South London. The men arereported to have jumped on to a roof.19

* May 2008: A 51-year-old Ghanaian man suf-fered injuries after falling from the third floorof a block of flats in Peckham, south London,following a raid by three immigration officersand a seconded police officer.20

* April 2008: A man in his 30s broke both ofhis legs following a raid by the UKBA on arestaurant in Tooting, south London.21

Migrants at risk

As in the case of those perishing on the way tothe UK, it is not possible to accurately countthose who have died in workplace accidentsrelated to negligence. In our compilation welist four workers who have died in workplaceaccidents, men often working illegally in dan-gerous jobs, provided with little or no trainingand put in situations where health and safetyregulations are breached.

But migrants are also at risk from destitutioncaused by exploitative and care-less employers


and the aftermath, when they are hounded bythe authorities. A particularly graphic case(which actually occurred outside our 2006-10time band) is worth recalling at length. AUkrainian woman, Oksana Sukhanova, had tohave two legs amputated on New Year’s Day2005 because of frostbite after living on thestreet, homeless and destitute. She had beenforced on to the street after losing her jobplucking turkeys at a factory in Co. Antrim. Shelived in a house provided by the factory withtwo other migrant workers and was paid theminimum wage. In September 2004, Oksanawas sacked. She told the Irish Times ‘I wasn’tgiven a chance to say anything. There was notrade union or anything like that. The otherworkers were shocked. They knew I was a goodworker. There had been no problem before that.But they were afraid to say anything.’ Shesought other work and was unable to find anyand stayed with some Polish friends but thenfound herself homeless after they returnedhome for Christmas. With all her savings goneafter spending a few nights in a cheap hotel,she was left on the street. Oksana then realisedthat she was ill and made her way to the homeshe had shared with other migrant workers andcalled an ambulance. The surgeon who treatedher said that she was lucky to survive and thatit was the worst case of frostbite he had everseen. She was in hospital for five months andhas since had prosthetic limbs fitted.22

Those who have come to seek work in com-munities across the UK, to carry out the jobsthat other workers will not do in agricultureand factories have, following job losses, beenleft without the means to support themselvesand as a result face homelessness and destitu-tion. Migrant workers from certain EU countriesare unable to access any benefits and as aresult are left stranded in the UK with familiesstill to provide for back home.

In April 2010 the UKBA began to targetrough sleepers and the homeless from the EU.Some people returned home voluntarily, otherswere receiving help from their embassies, andmany more had been served with ‘minded toremove’ letters, asking them to attend aninterview at a police station to prove that theywere in work or education or self-sufficient. Ifthey cannot provide such proof they are forcedto leave. In August 2010 it was reported that

116 ‘minded to remove’ letters had been givento European migrants and forty people hadbeen advised that they should leave the UK.23

Below we list a few recent news reports con-cerning migrants who have come to work in theUK:

* June 2010: The Peterborough EveningTelegraph reported that the UKBA had returned77 people through its scheme to return roughsleepers from the EU. In the same week thecouncil reported finding twenty-two foreignnational rough sleepers in Peterborough.24

* November 2009: John Untan, a 49-year-oldRomanian jumped from Westminster Bridgeinto the Thames, was pulled to safety andspent a month in a psychiatric unit. John hadonly been in the UK a month and was homelessand sleeping rough. He had been separatedfrom his family who live in Australia when hewas deported after serving a sentence for adrugs offence. He had travelled to Europe toseek help to be reunited with his family.However on the day he jumped he had beentold by Amnesty International that it could nothelp him.25

* April 2009: Polish man Marjusz Czerwjk, 27,who had been living in Newquay for only threeweeks, was found hanged at his home by hisgirlfriend and brother.26

* July 2008: The Eastern Daily Press reportedthat over 200 Portuguese migrant workers werestranded in Norfolk after failing to findemployment and accommodation.27

* July 2008: A group of Polish workers weredumped outside a factory in Kirkcaldy, Fife,with a promise of waiting jobs, only to be toldthere were none. The workers have been dupedby a Polish agency and had paid for tickets,translation of documents and accommoda-tion.28

* April 2007: Pezemyslaw Soltys, 34, wasfound hanged in the grounds of Craigavon AreaHospital, Portadown. He had travelled toNorthern Ireland two years before to seek work,and had worked for a landscape gardeningcompany. He regularly sent money home to hiswife and daughters His cousin, Joanna Bak,told the Belfast Telegraph that living awayfrom his family and the isolation of living in anew country added to his problems.29


Dangerous methods of entry

Hundreds if not thousands of people have diedmaking their desperate journeys to the UK. Welist the cases of 76 people who have beenkilled attempting to enter the UK over the lastfour years. On a daily basis men, women andchildren attempt to enter the UK clandestinely,often having paid smugglers and organisedcriminal gangs large sums of money for danger-ous journeys. Many wait in Calais and otherports across Europe and hide in or under lor-ries, or in and amongst their cargo. People ofall nationalities from Afghanistan, China,Vietnam, Sudan, Iran, Kuwait, Palestine,Eritrea, Iraq, India, Somalia, Syria and Pakistanmake repeated attempts to cross over to theUK, to be reunited with family or simply seek-ing a better life. However attempts to reachthe UK are often thwarted, and those caughtwill be fingerprinted, photographed and hand-ed back to French (or other) authorities. TheUKBA with its staff stationed in ports acrossEurope, using carbon dioxide detectors, heart-beat detectors and sniffer dogs, are stoppingmany more migrants from reaching the UK.Over four years the number of stowaways foundat Calais and Coquelles doubled, from 4,241 in2006/7 to 8,058 in 2008/9.30 As a result, peo-ple now try highly dangerous methods to reachthe UK. However, as immigration controlsbecome tighter across Europe, people are mak-ing even more desperate attempts to reach theUK. We list below a few examples of reportednon-fatal cases in recent years:

* July 2010: Three Vietnamese migrants, whorisked suffocation by hiding inside black refusesacks, were caught in the back of a lorry by aUKBA sniffer dog and handed over to theFrench authorities.31

* June 2010: Seventeen people, men andboys, aged from 16-35 were treated for exhaus-tion and dehydration after being found in theback of a lorry at Dover. Paramedics at thescene treated the stowaways and one man inhis 30s was taken to hospital.32

* June 2010: Two men jumped from a cargoship docked in Portsmouth harbour, one manwas arrested after being found in the water andthe other was arrested hours later near amotorway. The men were both returned to theDominican Republic.33

* June 2010: A young Romanian migrantmiraculously survived sub-zero temperaturesafter stowing away in the wheel-bay of a planeflying from Vienna to Heathrow.34

* May 2010: Five stowaways rang Frenchauthorities from the back of a refrigerated lorryasking for help as they feared that they weredying from hypothermia, the group fromAfghanistan also included a ‘very sick baby’.Police located the phone signal that was trans-mitting from a motorway near Calais and alert-ed lorry drivers in the area, however the lorrywas never located as the phone signal disap-peared.35

* May 2010: A 24-year-old man was foundclinging to the front axle below a coach on theM6 near Penrith after the driver heard knockingnoises. The coach had travelled from Belgiumvia Dover.36

* December 2009: A ‘suspected asylum seek-er’ jumped from a ship into Harwich harbourand was treated for suspected broken ribs andmild hypothermia.37

* November 2009: Two men jumped from afreight ferry in Poole, Dorset in gale forcewinds. An air and sea search was launched. Oneman, a Russian, was washed ashore and takento hospital and the other was also thought tohave reached the shore. Two women were alsofound on a lorry on the same boat. Newsreports suggested that the group were thoughtto have paid a lorry driver for their passagefrom Cherbourg but a disagreement hadoccurred and the men had jumped from theship.38

* August 2009: A tour leader reported reviv-ing a man found in the engine compartment ofhis coach as it travelled on a ferry to Doverfrom Calais. Two other men were found earlierhiding on the coach in Calais and arrested. Allthree men were thought to be Sudanese.39

* August 2009: Eighteen men were found byUKBA staff in Calais in a tanker traveling toWales carrying gluten powder. The men werecaked in powder in the tanker that had no airvents. The men, 16 Afghans and two Iraqiswere fingerprinted, photographed and handedover to the French authorities.40

* September 2008: A Dutch lorry driver wait-ed nearly 45 minutes for police to arrive afterhearing banging from the side of his lorry thatwas parked on an industrial site in


Lutterworth, despite being concerned that themen were trapped in a refrigerated lorry. TheNorthampton Chronicle & Echo reported that,on arrival, police officers opened and thenclosed the doors of the lorry after seeing thir-teen men, thought to be Afghans, until furtherpolice officers arrived at the scene.41

* February 2008: Eight people, including a12-year-old boy, were rescued from a sealedlorry carrying charcoal powder bound for asewage treatment works. The group banged onthe side of the lorry and road workers nearwhere the lorry was parked in Abbey Wood,south London, raised the alarm and they wererescued. The men, women and children hadtaken refuge on top of the load but after twelvehours in the lorry had begun sinking in to thepowder and suffering from breathing difficul-ties. The lorry had travelled from Cologne inGermany via Calais. The men were taken to hos-pital and treated for respiratory problems beforebeing taken into the custody of the UKBA.42

People are so desperate to reach the UK thatmigrants have even stowed away on army con-voys! One man was found at Sandhurst militaryacademy on a coach that had travelled fromGermany,43 five others were arrested after beingfound at the Duke of Gloucester barracks inGloucestershire after stowing away in an armyconvoy returning from Kosovo via Calais. Thegroup included 15-and 16-year- old boys fromAfghanistan and Iran.44 A few enterprisingmigrants were able to take advantage of UKBAhospitality by stowing away on a coach used toferry UKBA staff between Folkestone andCoquelles (near Calais in France) in August2009; one man escaped arrest and fled in toFolkestone. It was also reported that stow-aways might have used the coach on previousoccasions as it was usually waved through bor-der controls.45

PLACE OF DEATH

Deaths in detention

Deaths in removal centres and prisons are usu-ally publicly documented and subject toinquiries by the UKBA, Prison and ProbationService Ombudsman (PPO) and an inquestbefore a jury. But now it is not just asylumseekers and migrant workers who are driven to

take their lives. Additionally, in the last fouryears, at least six people, like Avtar Singh in2007 and Delaili Kwadzo Abusah in 2008, havecommitted suicide while detained under immi-gration powers, usually awaiting deportationafter serving sentences for criminal offences(often for using false passports and travel doc-uments). Following the media and subsequentgovernment hysteria over the release of foreignnational prisoners in April 2006, many morepeople are facing a double punishment andbeing detained beyond their sentence as thegovernment seeks to deport them.46 And as theprison system becomes more and more over-crowded it is likely that more people will seekto harm themselves as they suddenly findthemselves detained far beyond their sentence.

Deaths in the community

The deaths of asylum seekers in the communi-ty have increased and on average there hasbeen one every month. Information on the sui-cides of asylum seekers in the community isextremely hard to obtain and any figures wegive will be an underestimate. The deaths ofasylum seekers housed in isolated areas and indesolate bedsits rarely make the news. Quiteoften another asylum seeker will alert anorganisation or individual assisting asylumseekers and an email will be circulated. Ordeaths are sometimes reported followinginquest proceedings. These proceedings areoften short but never sweet – with the verdictusually being ‘took his own life’ and thedeceased are usually young men from countriessuch as Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran.

There are usually no family members presentto ask or answer any questions, probably just asocial worker or asylum caseworker who willprovide a few basic details about the circum-stances surrounding the deceased person.There is no one to explain why they were here,why they were so desperate to come and whythey were so desperate not to be returned.There is no one to ask questions of the UKBAand its staff (and its contractors and theirstaff) as to how the asylum claim was beinghandled, if the person obtained proper legaladvice, what their living conditions were, ifthey were destitute, facing eviction or deporta-tion. Many, many questions and usually veryfew answers.


Death on return

A number of asylum seekers have died afterbeing deported to their country of origin. Mostwere Iraqi men who had claimed asylum in theUK, had it refused and then, after periods indetention or living destitute, ultimately andreluctantly agreed to return and were killed inviolent attacks or took their own lives. Wehave not included all these deaths in our com-pilation as they often happened a number ofmonths after return and therefore cannot bedirectly attributed to UK asylum policies.However, it must be noted that these menwould probably still be alive had they not beensent back. All of the men who have died onreturn came from war-torn zones of the world;two were from Iraq, one from Afghanistan –countries where British troops are at war.However, the UK continues to forcibly returnpeople to these countries, even hiring charterflights so that deportations can be carried outbeyond public scrutiny. We list below some ofthese additional deaths.

* Heman, 2008: An Iraqi asylum seekerhanged himself from a tree shortly after beingdeported to the Kurdistan RegionalGovernment (KRG) area of the country.47

* Kadir Salih Abdullah, (44), August2008: An Iraqi refugee kidnapped in front ofhis home in Kurdistan and not seen again.Kadir arrived in the UK on 29 October 2000 and‘voluntarily’ returned to Kurdistan after fiveyears of fighting his asylum claim, duringwhich time he was unable to work and forcedto rely on the charity of friends.48

* October 2006: Two Sri Lankan asylum seek-ers died shortly after being deported from theUK.49

* Abdullah Tokhi, (35), Autumn 2005:Shot dead in a crowded bazaar in Afghanistanin Autumn 2005. In November 2002, he hadclaimed asylum in the UK saying that his lifewas in danger because of a sectarian and polit-ical blood feud, after spending eight months inprison accused of funding the Taliban. Howeverhis claim was refused and he was sent back inSeptember 2004.50

ENDNOTES

1 Racial violence: the buried issue, see<http://www.irr.org.uk/2010/june/ha000048.html>2 Plymouth Herald, 31 August 2010.3 Yorkshire Post, 28 June 2010.4 Evening Gazette, 8 June 2010.5 ‘State Sponsored Cruelty’: Children in immigrationdetention, Medical Justice, see <http://www.med-icaljustice.org.uk/content/view/1420/59/>6 See <http://www.freemovement.org.uk/index.html>7 Self-harm in immigration detention,http://www.freemovement.org.uk/Resources/self-harm2010.html8 Yorkshire Evening Post, 23 December 2009.9 Glasgow Evening Times, 4 November 2009.10 Federation, International Federation of IraqiRefugees, Issue No.9, November 2009.11 BBC News online, 28 October 2009.12 Liverpool Echo, 24 December 2009.13 NCADC email bulletin, 5 March 2009.14 Sheffield Star, 19 February 2009.15 Oxford Mail, 4, 13 January 2009.16 Metro, 10 February 2008.17 See <http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-and-updates/?area=allNews>18 IRR News, 5 February 2009,<http://www.irr.org.uk/2009/february/ha000011.html>19 IRR News, 9 July 2010.20 IRR News, 9 July 2010.21 IRR News, 9 July 2010.22 Irish Times, 26 November 2005.23 InsideHousing, 11 August 2010.24 Peterborough Evening Telegraph, 3 June 2010.25 Evening Standard, 24 May 2010.26 This is Plymouth, 28 April 2009.27 Eastern Daily Press, 30 July 2008.28 Daily Record, 25 July 2008.29 Belfast Telegraph, 5 May 2007.30 Chief Inspector of the UKBA, Annual report, see<http://www.ociukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/files/inspec-tion-reports/ici-ukba-report-july08-sept09.pdf>31 Daily Mail, 22 July 2010.32 BBC News online, 25 June 2010.33 BBC News online, 15 June 2010.34 Guardian, 9 June 2010.35 Daily Telegraph, 20 May 2010.36 BBC News online, 19 May 2010.37 The Daily Gazette, 13 December 2009.38 Guardian, 25 November 2009, Independent, 25November 2009.39 Shropshire Star, 5 August 2009.40 Daily Mail, 7 September 2009.41 Northampton Chronicle & Echo,12 September2008.42 Independent, 9 February 2008.43 BBC News online, 2 July 2009.44 BBC News online, 17 July 2008.45 BBC News online, 2 August 2009, Daily Mail, 17August 2009)46 See also IRR News, 16 July 2009,


<http://www.irr.org.uk/2009/july/ha000024.html>and European Race Bulletin, no. 69, ‘Foreign nation-als, enemy penology and the criminal justice system’,<http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf2/ERB_69_FNP_all.pdf>47 Indymedia, 13 August 2008.48 Federation of Iraqi Refugees.49 Hansard, Commons written answer to HarryCohen, 2 November 2006.50 Independent, 5 February 2007.


l u Bereket Yohannes, (26), 19/1/06

An Eritrean asylum seeker was found hanged ina shower block at Harmondsworth removal cen-tre. According to the National Coalition ofAnti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC), whichreceived reports that Bereket had arrived in theUK from Italy in October 2005, he was detainedon arrival in the UK, taken to Dover immigra-tion removal centre and then toHarmondsworth in December. NCADC was toldthat Bereket had ‘removal directions’ forFebruary but that the deportation had beendeferred pending a judicial review. Detainees atHarmondsworth also told NCADC that thedeportation was neither to Eritrea nor back toItaly, but to Sudan. According to otherdetainees at the centre, he was fearful ofdeportation and found conditions at the centre‘unbearable’. He also spoke of his intention totake his life. An inquest in March 2007 wastold how he had previously tried to take hisown life while he was held at Dover removalcentre a month prior to his death, and foundthat he took his own life.

l Taufik Al-Karazeh, aka Mohamad Eid,(27), 10/02/06

A Syrian asylum seeker found hanged in themeter cupboard of his flat in Rochdale on theday he was due to move out. His asylum claimwas refused in September 2005. His body wasfound by his asylum caseworker who hadarranged for his voluntary deportation toPalestine. After he failed to return his keys shevisited the flat and found his body. She toldthe inquest that he had become paranoid andthought that the Home Office had installedCCTV at his flat and that staff were followinghim. The coroner, Simon Nelson, found that hetook his own life, but that he couldn’t be surethat his balance of mind was disturbed at thetime. He said: ‘Between 4 February and 10February Mr Al-Karazeh made the decision totake his own life. I have no evidence to sug-gest he was depressed and therefore I amreluctant to say the balance of the deceased’smind was disturbed at the time of death. Thefact that he was due to leave the UK, be it vol-

untarily or otherwise, was playing on his mind,but that would be the case with any asylumseeker.’

l Yadav Krishnakumar, (20 months),20/2/06

A 20-month-old baby boy died hours afterbeing admitted to Fairfield Hospital, Bury suf-fering from dehydration. The inquest, inDecember 2006, was told that Yadav had beentaken to the hospital and a doctor’s surgery inthe 48 hours before his death after sufferingfrom diarrhoea and vomiting, but little wasdone. It was found that he probably died ofdehydration and the coroner recorded a verdictof death by natural causes, although it isextremely rare for a child to die of dehydration.The coroner was extremely critical that thefamily of Sri Lankan asylum seekers had beenplaced in the area without any support net-work, describing it as ‘incomprehensible andinhumane’.

l Naser Al Shdaida, (36), 9/3/06

A Syrian asylum seeker died after jumping infront of a train in Streatham. An inquest wastold that he suffered from post-traumaticstress and was scared of being deported afterhe was told his asylum claim had failed.

l Danielle Dominy, (30), 04/06

A Brazilian woman living in Werrington,Cornwall died after drinking antifreeze becauseshe feared immigration officials were going toseparate her from her daughter who was bornin the UK. An inquest was told she had waitedsix years for a ruling on residence and wasbarred from work and benefits. Dr ElizabethCarlyon, the coroner, recorded an open verdict,saying she would write to the Home Secretaryabout the case. According to husband JamieDominy, Danielle had come to the UK in 1999and they had met and planned to travel theworld but Danielle had become pregnant andoverstayed her visa by a few weeks. The couplehad tried to sort out her immigration statusbut she was told to leave the UK and reapplyfrom Brazil. Danielle had been ‘left in limbo’,just waiting for a knock at the door.

List of deaths


l Serghei Nichita, (22), 16/4/06

A Moldovan asylum seeker whose burned bodywas found on a towpath next to the GrandUnion Canal in Sixfields, Northampton. Theinquest was told that he had suffered burns tohalf his body and the pattern of the burns sug-gested that he had held a live conductor (hewas found near an electricity pylon). A case-worker from the local asylum support team toldthe inquest that he had come to the UK as ateenager and was awaiting a decision on hisapplication for an extension to his discre-tionary leave to remain. The coroner recordedan open verdict saying ‘I’m quite satisfiedthere was no third party involvement but Ican’t presume his death was an accident orthat he wanted to end his life.’

n Unidentified man, 23/4/06

A man died after apparently trying to cut him-self loose from under a truck after slippingunder the wheels and being dragged a milealong the A14 in Cambridgeshire. Policebelieved he was a stowaway. The German driv-er of the lorry was arrested on suspicion ofcausing death by dangerous driving and drivingwith excess alcohol. The victim was describedas Asian, aged 24 to 45, slim, 5ft 8in tall, withshort hair, moustache, goatee beard and side-burns.

Q Khizar Hayat, (40), 27/4/06

A Kashmiri-born migrant worker died followingan arson attack on the shop where he workedin Kennington, south London.

Q Hamidi Hamidullah, (31), 3/5/06

A migrant worker from Afghanistan died follow-ing an arson attack on the shop where he wasworking. 32-year-old Robert Torto was chargedwith the murders of Khizar Hayat (see above)and Hamidullah Hamidi and also charged withthree counts of arson with intent to endangerlife, relating to attacks on other buildings. Atthe Old Bailey he pleaded guilty to manslaugh-ter and one count of arson, but two furthercharges of arson relating to earlier attackswere allowed to lie on file. Torto, who was suf-fering from paranoid schizophrenia, wasordered to be detained indefinitely in a securehospital. The court was told that the attackswere religiously motivated.

n Asif Azmad, (17), 11/05/06

Died after being crushed to death by the lorryhe had stowed away in. The 17-year-old fromAfghanistan clung to the lorry for fifteen milesbefore falling and being crushed on the A3near Clanfield. The lorry had travelled toPortsmouth from France. It took police eightmonths to identify Asif, whose brother told theinquest that he did not know his brother wastravelling to the UK.

l Sivanathan Gowthaman, (29), 13/05/06

A Sri Lankan asylum seeker died instantly afterjumping in front of train in Bedhampton. Aninquest into his death was told that mountingdebts and the failure of his asylum claim werethought to have been factors. On the daybefore his death he had told his landlord thathe was leaving to live with his brother inLondon, another man (who could not betraced) helped him pack his belongings andthe two men left. The inquest found that hetook his own life.

l Ese Elizabeth Alabi, (29), 15/5/06

A Nigerian woman died in hospital having beendenied a heart transplant. Ese visited the UKregularly to see her fiancé and had never over-stayed her tourist visas. However, in September2005, she fell ill (while pregnant) and was toldshe could not fly home. She gave birth to twinboys in February, but steadily became sicker.She was diagnosed with a serious heart condi-tion needing an immediate transplant. But as aforeign national her need was decided to be ofa lower priority than UK citizens’. Her lawyerwent to court for judicial review of this deci-sion and because of the length of the legalfight she overstayed her visa and her case wasadjourned until an application was made forexceptional leave to remain. Her health deteri-orated and she died before her case was heard.

l Dejere Kebede-Tulu, (25), 06/06

An Ethiopian athlete, considered to be one ofthe best long-distance runners in the UK, wasfound dead in his flat in June 2006. In April2007, an inquest into his death was told hecontinued to train as a runner despite living ona mere £25 per week. He came to the UK in2001 after his father was murdered and claimedasylum. He had to wait until three weeks


before his death before he was given indefiniteleave to remain. His body bore scars of tortureand at the time of his death he was receivingtreatment from the Helen Bamber Foundationand it was workers from the organisation thatfound his body at his Holloway flat. The coro-ner recorded an open verdict as the cause ofdeath could not be determined.

u l Aleksey Baranovsky, (33), 06/06

A Ukrainian man bled to death in his cell atRye Hill prison, Warwickshire. An inquest wastold how he had repeatedly self-harmed as aprotest against his impending deportationafter serving a seven-year sentence and fearedbeing killed by the Russian mafia if deported.A mental health assessment was never carriedout and his request to see a doctor hoursbefore his death was not followed up. Aninvestigation by the Prison and ProbationOmbudsman (PPO) found that a nurse failed toprovide the standard of care reasonably expect-ed of someone in her role. When staff didrealise that he was not breathing it took twen-ty minutes for his cell door to be opened. Thecoroner called his treatment at the privatelyrun Rye Hill prison ‘shameful and appalling’.The jury recorded a highly critical narrativeverdict outlining a catalogue of failures, high-lighting failures to follow policy on suicide pre-vention or to arrange an urgent psychiatricassessment and a lack of communicationbetween staff.

n Two Asian men, 12/6/06 and 22/6/06

An Asian man was found dead by a roadsidenear Witham, Essex, two other men were alsofound nearby and taken to hospital, one ofwhom was severely dehydrated and in a criticalcondition. Another man died in hospital tendays after being found. The five men, allthought to be Pakistani, were smuggled con-cealed in a tool compartment underneath alorry travelling from Denmark to Tipton. InNovember 2007, the Lithuanian lorry driver,Georgji Negatin, faced trial on two counts ofmanslaughter. Negatin allegedly dumped themen from the truck in the middle of the night,two men ran away and a cyclist discovered theothers the following day. The survivor, FaisalNayyer, told the court that he had paid ¤ 5,000for the journey. He told the court the five men

had been told to lie in the toolbox, next to oneanother, with no food or water and then theyhad been locked in to the box. Negatin deniedall knowledge of the men, insisting that theyhad secreted themselves in the lorry. In June2007, the judge directed the jury to findNegatin not guilty of one count of manslaugh-ter as it could not be proved where one of thevictims had died. (UK law only covers thosedeaths that happen here in the UK). He wasconvicted on the second count of manslaugh-ter and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Thetwo dead men have never been identified.

l Abiy Fessfha Abebe, (35), 5/7/06

An Ethiopian asylum seeker was found hangedin Greenbank accommodation centre inLiverpool, the day after being told his asylumclaim had been refused. His claim had beenclassified as a ‘late and opportunistic’ one andwas being handled under the fast-track systemunder which decisions on asylum claims aregiven in eleven days. The conditions underwhich Abiy was housed and receiving support(£35 per week) meant that he had to report ona daily basis to Reliance House – some milesaway. An inquest in September 2006 found ‘itmore likely than not he died by his own hand’.Abiy’s family were particularly concerned bythe contents of Abiy’s suicide note (addressedto his ‘case owner’) that was left in his room.‘I can’t go back. I rather die’, were Abiy’s lastwords in the note. The note suggested thatpersonal particulars contained in his asylumclaim had been revealed to his employers inEthiopia and that this had terrified him.

Q Wei Wang, (41), 08/06

A Chinese asylum seeker died in hospitaltwelve days after being attacked in an unpro-voked attack yards from his home in theSighthill area of Glasgow. He had been in theGlasgow area for three months after being dis-persed from London. In May 2007, Paul Brownwas sentenced to life imprisonment for murder,and told he would serve at least 17 years. Thecourt was told that Brown struck Wei over thehead with a bottle and then rifled through hispockets, as he lay unconscious, stealing hiswallet. Another man, Mark Kerr, 18, was sen-tenced to four years and six months afterpleading guilty to reduced charges of serious


assault - in exchange for his testimony againstBrown.

l Pierre Palmaba Kabamba, (61), 12/8/06

An asylum seeker from Congo died after fallingfrom a fifth floor window at the Nayland Rockhotel in Margate. The death is being treated assuicide. Pierre was staying with his wife at thehotel that is run by Migrant Helpline as aninduction centre for up to 200 new arrivals –mainly Africans. An inquest in October 2006found that he took his own life.

l Zamira Sadigova, (51), 17/08/06

An asylum seeker from Azerbaijan jumped toher death from her eleventh-floor flat inGlasgow as health officials and police officerstried to break down her door in order to sec-tion her for treatment. The Glasgow Heraldreported that she had arrived in the UK in 2002with her young son and claimed asylum on thegrounds that she had been persecuted becauseshe was Azerbaijani and a member of theJehovah Witnesses. However, her asylum claimwas rejected, as was an appeal, and benefitswere withdrawn in April 2005. Various medicalreports stated that she was ‘vulnerable’. Zamira,who had been diagnosed as suffering fromparanoid schizophrenia, was first sectioned in2003 when she was found jumping in front ofcars on a Glasgow street. In the last fewmonths before her death Zamira was survivingon £20 a week, given to her by a mental healthcharity. She had also become delusional,repeatedly talked about killing herself and hadcut herself off from family and friends. ScottishMSPs called for a public inquiry into her deathand the fact that she had been denied accessto mental health treatment a year before herdeath. In October 2010, the Crown Office andProcurator Fiscal Service confirmed that a fatalaccident inquiry would be held but no date hasbeen fixed.

l Paul Kiese, (31), 03/09/06

A Congolese asylum seeker found hanged undera bridge over the River Spodden near Rochdale,a month after having his asylum applicationrefused. A friend told the inquest that he hadspoken about killing himself on numerousoccasions, ‘Once they rejected his appeal, Paulhad no money and wasn’t allowed to work. He

had no money to live, I gave him food. He wasa quiet person, but he had an objective in hislife - to gain asylum.’

l Abdullah Ahmed Maroof, (30), 10/06

An Iraqi man died after setting himself alightin his car on the A19 on the edge of Norton,Stockton. He feared being sent back to Iraqand possible retaliation after a cousin wasmurdered. Mr Maroof’s wife, Jane Parkes, toldthe inquest into his death: ‘He still felt respon-sible and guilty for his cousin’s murder. Hethought that on his return he would be blamedand called to account for not protecting himmore.’ His wife also told the inquest aboutimmigration problems which were playing onhis mind. The coroner, Michael Sheffield, foundthat Abdullah had killed himself, ‘I am satis-fied that the actions he took - and strangeactions they were - were intended to end hislife.’

n One unnamed man, (20s), 08/10/06

One man was found dead and another wasfound seriously injured on the A20 in Sellindge,Kent. Police were seeking the driver of an artic-ulated lorry that apparently reversed over themen. The men were both believed to be Iraqisin their 20s. The injured man suffered a brokenpelvis.

s Ajet Krasniqi, (24), 24/10/06

An undocumented Kosovan labourer died fromserious head injuries after being hit on thehead with a reinforced steel joist (RSJ) inBuckhurst Hill, Essex. The inquest in July 2008was told that his head was struck by an RSJwhich dropped whilst a group of workers weretrying to lift it. Just prior to the incident, Ajetwas plastering a ceiling inside the propertywhen he was asked to come and help move thejoist. He, along with other workers, was notwearing a hard hat. The HSE inspector told thejury that the HSE ‘wouldn’t recommend manu-ally handling that weight at all.’ The inquestrecorded a verdict of accidental death. Hisemployer was fined £10,000.

n Unnamed Afghan man, (40s), 11/06

A man died after being run over by the lorry hehad been hiding under after tying himself to itwith rope. The man was killed after cutting


himself free from the underside of the lorry andfalling under the wheels as it started moving inHarlow, Essex.

l Imran Yousaf, (28), 01/07

A Pakistani doctor found hanged at a friend’shome in Bedford. Imran was a qualified doctorwho came to the UK in order to practise medi-cine. He passed the exams allowing him topractise in the UK, however, despite sendingout hundreds of letters and job applications hewas unable to secure employment. And then inMarch 2006, the government announced thatpriority would be given to UK postgraduates.The British Association of Physicians of IndianOrigin (BAPIO) began a legal challenge to thisdecision, of which Imran was a part. He did notleave a suicide note but a letter from immigra-tion officials telling him that his visa wouldnot be extended was found beside him. Friendsof the doctor commented that he was becom-ing increasingly distraught.

n Samuel Peter Benjamin, (17) 27/01/07

A South African man was found in the landinggear of a BA plane recently arrived in LosAngeles from London Heathrow. A pilot check-ing the plane for its return flight to the UKfound the body. The young man from CapeTown, South Africa is thought to have stowedaway on the plane on 22 January, six daysbefore his body was found.

u l Abass Usman, (26), 29/01/07

A Nigerian man found hanged in his cell atPreston prison. He was on remand accused ofusing false documents and had only been inthe prison for five days.

l Baitul Atique, 02/03/07

A Bangladeshi man found dead from an appar-ent overdose of sleeping pills in Dhaka. He hadentered the UK as a dependant of his wife whoentered under the Highly Skilled MigrantsProgramme (HSMP). However the couple wereforced to return to Bangladesh followingchanges to HSMP and an extension to his wife’svisa being rejected. His wife said that he wasdepressed following concerns about being ableto repay loans the family had taken to traveland work in the UK and that they never wouldhave taken them out if they had known about

proposed rule changes. Baitul had earlierattempted suicide on his return.

l Garip Aygun, (27), 03/07

A Turkish kebab shop owner was found hangedfrom a tree near Dover Castle. He had moved tothe UK in 2005 to set up a business with hisbrothers, one of whom told the inquest: ‘Hehad stress because of the customers at thekebab shop. There was a lot of racism. Late-night customers would shout at him.’ The coro-ner commented: ‘I am satisfied that Mr Aygunintended to end his life.’

l Uddhav Bhandari, (40), 18/03/07

A Nepalese asylum seeker set himself alight inthe Eagle Building, Bothwell Street, Glasgow,home to the asylum and immigration tribunal,on 7 March and died eleven days later inGlasgow royal infirmary. The former police offi-cer had exposed corruption within the policeforce in Nepal. He was then posted to a remoteregion, a move considered as punishment.Uddhav started to receive death threats follow-ing a gun battle and was later sacked for hisinvolvement in the incident. Finally findingwork with a leftist newspaper, his role in a con-troversial article made him more enemies inNepalese society. Upon receiving an order toreport to police, Uddhav and his family fled thecountry. Although the Home Office never disput-ed the facts in his asylum claim, Uddhav’s asy-lum application was rejected as a judge deemedthe threat he faced in Nepal was not sufficient-ly serious, and that in any case, he wouldreceive protection upon return as he was high-profile. Having been in the UK six years and ter-rified of being sent back, he set fire to himselfas he was about to launch his final appeal.

s Otari Davidovitch Hudoian, (46), 28/03/07

A Kurdish Iraqi man died after falling from aheight while refurbishing a farm building atEast Hall Farm, Rainham, Essex. At the inquestin July 2008 a Health and Safety Executive(HSE) inspector told the inquest that the sitewas in very poor condition, that there were noguardrails, floorboards were missing and thegeneral condition of the building site wasuntidy. A verdict of accidental death wasreturned. His nationality was initially unclearas he was known as a Georgian called Mehmet.


However his family were eventually located innorthern Iraq. He was identified by fingerprintsheld by the Home Office.

l Conrad Dixon, (40), 19/5/07

A Jamaican asylum seeker died after settinghimself alight and suffering nearly 100 percent burns after his claim for asylum wasrefused. The Stoke-on-Trent coroner recorded averdict of suicide.

n Unnamed man, 06/07

An unnamed man was found dead in a speed-boat being transported from Greece to Devon.Three others were taken to hospital. The boatwas being transported by road and was stoppedby police on the A43 near Chambery, Francewhere the three men were found in a confinedspace with little ventilation. They had been onthe boat for two days.

Q Adam Michalski, (24), 08/07

A Polish migrant worker stabbed to death in aWrexham street as he tried to get away fromhis assailant. In December 2007, Thomas Blue,25, was sentenced to life in prison with a min-imum 17-year term, after being found guilty ofthe murder that he said was in self-defence.The trial was told how Blue abused Adam forbeing Polish and then stabbed him four times.The judge said he was satisfied that there wasa racist element.

l Solyman Rashed, (28), 06/09/07

An asylum seeker who had been deported toIraq from the UK was killed by a roadside bombin Kirkuk, after having been back in the coun-try for only two weeks. He had been held invarious immigration detention centres for fif-teen months after being arrested in May 2006when he was homeless and destitute. Solymanfelt that he would never be released fromdetention, after making numerous bail applica-tions, and agreed to return voluntarily. He wasdeported to Baghdad on 15 August and trav-elled to his hometown of Kirkuk where he waskilled just over two weeks later.

l Shaukat Ali, (61), 10/10/07

A Pakistani man found hanged at the flat wherehe was staying in Birkby, Huddersfield afterbeing told his asylum claim had failed. His

brother told the inquest that Shaukat had beenin the UK illegally and had been trying to claimasylum but had recently been told he had toleave the UK. The coroner found that he tookhis own life while the balance of his mind wasdisturbed.

Q Gregory Fernandes, (32), 10/07

An Indian sailor from Goa died of a heartattack after being attacked by a gang inFawley, Hampshire. He and a shipmate werereturning to their ship berthed at Fawley oilrefinery when they were met by a 20-stronggang who attacked them outside a hotel andthen again further down the road. A passer-by,Jody Miles, broke up the fight and took Gregoryback to the docks where he collapsed and diedfrom a heart attack as a result of the stress. Hisfriend Pitchilnaviram suffered a broken collar-bone. Police said that Gregory was attackedbecause of his race. Ten teenagers, aged 13 to17, were arrested on suspicion of murder, GBHand violent disorder and later released on bail.In January 2008, the Fernandes familyexpressed concern at the police investigationand the failure to charge anyone. Later threeyoung boys were charged with murder. At theirtrial in February 2009, the three admitted less-er charges of manslaughter. In March 2009,Stephen Pritchard, 18, Daniel Rogers, 18 andChay Fields, 16 were sentenced to six-and ahalf years in prison. A 15-year-old boy admit-ted GBH on Pitchilnaviram and was given a 12-month detention and training order. Another15-year-old who also admitted assault wasgiven a 18-month supervision order.

u l Avtar Singh, (37), 17/11/07

An undocumented Punjabi father of two tookhis own life in prison. He had travelled to theUK in 2003 and after some time here hadsought advice from an agent on how to regu-larise his status. He was advised to travel toSpain to obtain legal status and had beengiven a false passport, for which he wascaught. He served a seven-month sentence andwas due to be deported to India the day beforehe died.

u l Abdullah Hagar Idris, aka Joker, (18),25/12/07

An unaccompanied asylum-seeking child from


Darfur, who arrived in the UK in 2005 and tookhis own life on Christmas Day 2007 at HMPChelmsford. An inquest in June 2010 hearddamning evidence of numerous systemic andindividual failures by state bodies, principallyincluding HMP Chelmsford and Essex SocialServices (ESS), in the way Joker was treatedand cared for both before and after enteringprison. The inquest into his death was told hehad been due for release in January 2008 butshortly before his death was given a notice ofdeportation to Sudan. He was probably unableto understand fully what was to happen as hisEnglish was not very good.

u l Siumpalan Sathiyan, (29), 20/01/08

A Sri Lankan man found hanged in his cell atWormwood Scrubs prison in West London. Hewas on remand on a charge of ‘making a falseinstrument’.

s Wu Zhu Weng, (27), 31/01/08

A Chinese migrant worker died in Norfolk andNorwich University Hospital after fallingthrough a skylight of a roof he was working on.Sharaz Butt, company director at Norwich-based Alcon Construction, pleaded guilty tomanslaughter in July 2008 at Norwich CrownCourt and also admitted three health and safe-ty offences on behalf of the company, includ-ing failing to ensure the safety of employeesand failing to give staff proper training. Thecourt was told how Butt drove Wu to hospitaland told staff the injuries happened after Wuhad fallen down stairs at his home. Wu hadactually fallen 13 feet when he stumbledthrough a skylight which was covered by a thinplastic sheet and was not marked as a hazard.In August 2008, Butt was jailed for twelvemonths and disqualified from acting as a com-pany director.

l Mohammed Ahmedi, (18), 06/02/08

A young Iraqi asylum seeker with a heart con-dition died in Gloucester Royal hospital as doc-tors and social workers attempted to clarify hisimmigration status. His family and lawyerexpressed concerns that he was not treatedadequately because his status was unclear.

l Barhan Ahmed, (28), 18/02/08

An Iraqi asylum seeker died after setting him-

self alight in Nelson, Lancashire. An inquest inSeptember 2008 was told that he suffered fromdepression and had told his doctor of hisdespair. He made his asylum claim in 2002after seeking asylum with his brothers but ithad been refused. The coroner found that hehad taken his own life.

l Ama Sumani, (39), 30/03/08

A Ghanaian woman died in Korle Bu Hospital inAccra, Ghana after being deported from the UKin January 2008 while being treated for cancerat the University Hospital of Wales. She wastaken from the hospital in a wheelchair by fiveimmigration officers and driven to Heathrow.The Lancet commented after her removal, ‘Tostop treating patients in the knowledge thatthey are being sent home to die is an unac-ceptable breach of the duties of any healthprofessional. The UK has committed an atro-cious barbarism. It is time for doctors’ leadersto say so, forcefully and uncompromisingly.’

u l Delaili Kwadzo Abusah, aka AlfredoCastano-Fuentes, (28), 30/03/08

A Ghanaian found hanged in his cell at HMPPentonville. He was arrested in north Wales andcharged with entering the country illegallyafter using a false passport, and served a one-year sentence. The inquest was told he wasserved with a deportation notice two weeksbefore his death. Julie Rogers, a senior officerat Pentonville who delivered the news of hisdeportation, said she spent five minutes withhim, and he appeared to have expected it. Thecoroner directed the jury to record a verdict ofsuicide.

l Lucy Kirma, 05/08

An asylum seeker was found dead in a houseused to house asylum seekers in the Edgbastonarea of Birmingham. A friend who found hercommented: ‘I think she had received a lettersaying she had to leave and she was very upsetabout it. I think she just starved herself todeath because she took to her room and would-n’t come out, not even for a drink. She told meher support had also been stopped.’

n Two unnamed men, 25/05/08

The bodies of two unidentified men, thought tobe north Africans, were found in the cargo hold


of a ship docked at Ayr port in Scotland. Theship had recently arrived from Tunisia carryingmaterial for the production of fertilisers. It isthought that the men died soon after secretingthemselves in the hold as once the doors wereshut there would have been very little air. Themen were thought to be Tunisian after ID cardsbearing a Tunisian flag were found.

l Mohammad Hussain, (36), 03/08/08

This man died of cancer in hospital following along fight to gain refugee status. Mohammadleft Erbil and sought refuge in the UK in March2000, following threats from the KurdishDemocratic Party because of his political cam-paigning. He narrowly avoided deportation, on14 May 2008, after his lawyer successfullychallenged it. While he was held in Lindholmeremoval centre he sought medical help for alump in his stomach and was prescribedpainkillers. On his release in May he went toDoncaster Royal Infirmary where he was diag-nosed with a form of cancer which (by thatstage) was incurable.

l Nadir Zarabee, 05/08/08

An Iranian asylum seeker found hanged in apark in Longsight, Manchester after being askedto leave his Trafford home, which had been pro-vided by a private company contracted by theNational Asylum Support Service (NASS) to pro-vide housing to asylum seekers in the area.

l Hussein Ali, (35), 10/08/08

Shot himself in the cellar of his home inSulaimania, Kurdistan days after being deport-ed from the UK. Hussein had been in the UKsince 2002. He was detained for fifty days atOakington removal centre in Cambridgeshireafter being arrested in London for workingwithout permission. He was deported to Erbilvia Jordan on 7 August 2008.

l Unnamed Zimbawean man, (32),01/09/08

A Zimbabwean man found dead at his home, amonth after being released from Colnbrook, themaximum security removal centre in westLondon. A post-mortem revealed the cause ofdeath as tuberculosis (TB). The man came tothe UK in 2002 on a visitor’s visa that he over-stayed. He was held at Colnbrook for just over

two years until shortly before his death. Priorto that he had served a sentence of fortymonths at Littlehey prison where he wasdetained under immigration powers for depor-tation to Zimbabwe and transferred toColnbrook. In July 2008, he was temporarilyreleased on licence following an AppealsTribunal hearing and placed in National AsylumSupport Service (NASS) accommodation, wherehe was found on 1 September 2008 a neigh-bour noticed his flat door was open and thetelevision on. The man was released six daysafter being told he was no longer infectiousand after having spent time in hospital and onthe healthcare wing at Colnbrook being treatedfor TB. Information from the coroner suggestedthat he had been trying to register with a doc-tor following his release from Colnbrook buthad been unsuccessful. An investigation fol-lowing the death by the Prisons and ProbationService Ombudsman (PPO) made four recom-mendations, two in relation to the medicalneeds of detainees and two in relation to pub-lic protection. The two public protection rec-ommendations were accepted, however the rec-ommendations in relation to accessing health-care for asylum seekers were not. The PPO stat-ed that the ‘the state has a duty of care tothose it is releasing from immigration deten-tion’, and was also critical of the lack of infor-mation provided to NASS caseworkers who wereunaware of the man’s medical condition.

l Frank Odame, (36), 09/08

A Ghanaian man found with head injuriesbelow a block of flats after police officers andimmigration officials visited a flat in WoodfordGreen. The death is being investigated by theDirectorate of Professional Standards of theMetropolitan Police Service.

n Baj Singh, (33), 09/08

Indian man died after being crushed to deathunder the wheels of a lorry in Trent Vale,Staffordshire. The lorry had travelled fromBelgium via Germany. An inquest was told thatfingerprint records showed that he had beenpicked up twice by immigration officials whiletrying to enter the UK from Calais and sentback. He had no official documents but gavehis name as Baj Singh, when he was picked upearlier on 18 April.


l Mohammed Ali, (80), 02/11/08

An Iraqi man suffering from cancer died afterbeing denied treatment and pursued for pay-ment for treatment he had already received. Hearrived in the UK in 2006 from Denmark to livewith his son in London and was soon diag-nosed with lung cancer. He did receive sometreatment but this was soon stopped on thegrounds that he was not entitled to free treat-ment. Instead Mohammed was pursued by debtcollectors (sent by the NHS) who, according tohis son, called at their home first once a monthand then on a weekly basis. Mohammed washere legally and was waiting to hear from theHome Office about his right to remain in theUK, which was granted in April 2008. The hos-pital did agree to refund part of his money andto treat him - but it was too late.

n Duy Nguyen, (25), 02/12/08

A Vietnamese man found dead in the back oflorry stopped on the M3 in Winchester bypolice after arriving from France in the ChannelTunnel. The 45-year-old driver was detainedand later bailed pending further inquiries. Thedriver called the police after being alerted byanother motorist on the M3 who had seen ahand poking from the lorry. The driver hadstopped and an unidentified man had run fromthe lorry. Police said the death was not suspi-cious and that he had died from hypothermiaand natural causes.

Q Kunal Mohanty, (30), 03/09

This Indian sailor died after his throat was slitin a street attack in Glasgow. Kunal, in the cityto sit exams at the Nautical College for promo-tion to sea captain, was on his way to get ameal with three friends. Christopher Millerapproached the four and asked for a cigaretteand then, after calling Kunal ‘black b*****d’,produced a knife and slashed Kunal across thethroat. Miller was also later heard to boast tohaving ‘done a P**i’. Miller, 25, denied chargesof racially aggravated murder and attemptingto pervert the course of justice and acting in aracially aggravated manner. A jury unanimous-ly found him guilty and the judge sentencedhim to serve at least 18 years in prison. (Millerhad previous convictions for racially aggravat-ed offences.)

n Unknown man, (30s), 06/04/09

Found dead on Eurostar rail tracks, his badlyinjured body was found by police who believehe had been hit by a train or fallen from one.

Q Marek Muszynski, (40), 07/09

A Polish man died after being attacked in thestreet in Newry, Northern Ireland. He wasallegedly taunted with ‘Go back to your owncountry, you’re not wanted in Ireland’, andthen savagely beaten and robbed. A man and awoman have been charged with murder.

l Heval Huseyn Ismail, (28), 9/8/09

A Kurdish asylum seeker found hanged in apark in South Shields, South Tyneside. Hearrived in the UK in 2006 from Syria and wasrefused asylum in 2008 and was facing depor-tation. The coroner recorded an open verdictsaying he was not satisfied he intended to takehis own life.

l Jasraj Singh Kataria, (23 months),16/08/09

A young child fell from the window of a thirdfloor flat in Dennistoun, Glasgow. Jasraj fellfrom the window as he apparently watchedchildren walking to school, on 8 August, anddied just over a week later. His family wereSikh asylum seekers from Afghanistan, who hadbeen housed at the block of flats by a UKBAcontractor, the Angel Group. According to theGlasgow Herald: ‘Homes with vulnerable occu-pants must have windows fitted with equip-ment to prevent falls.’ The Angel Group hasinsisted that the windows at the flat were fit-ted with locks, as has the UKBA, but has alsorefused to make public its investigation intothe death. Campaigners have called for a fatalaccident inquiry into the death.

l Hassan Rahimi, (16/17), 10/09/09

A teenage unaccompanied Afghan asylum seek-er found hanged in Hounslow, west London inaccommodation provided by the social servicesdepartment. The day before his death, he wasarrested following an alleged assault on his keyworker following an argument over an‘allowance payment’. The day before his deathhe had also been told that key workers wouldnot be staying with him overnight at his flatand that the hours spent with him would be


reduced. He had arrived in the UK in June 2005and placed in the care of Hounslow social serv-ices, had been given leave to remain until 8October 2010 and was awaiting a decision onwhether further leave to remain would begiven. He was placed with at least six differ-ence foster carers and then in shared/support-ed accommodation. He had also spent time insecure psychiatric care. There seemed to besome dispute over his age, as following anarrest Hassan insisted that he was over 21 andbe treated as an adult. In September 2009, thecoroner found that Hassan had taken his ownlife.

n Unknown man, 31/10/09

Body of a man found in a lorry that was aboutto enter the Channel Tunnel in France. The lorryhad travelled from Belgium and was stopped bycustoms officials and his body was found in acramped compartment that was hidden. It isthought the man suffocated to death.

l Mohammed Safi, (18), 30/31/10/09

An Afghan boy found drowned in the Thamesseven hours after being arrested on suspicionof immigration offences.

l Jianping Liu, (35), 12/11/09

A Chinese woman died after falling from abridge on the Northern Perimeter Road nearHeathrow airport hours after she was arrestedby police as an overstayer in the public depar-ture area at Terminal 1. She had been releasedat 9.30am from custody after it was found thatshe had leave to be in the UK, and her deathwas reported at around 1pm that afternoon.

l Yurij Skruten, 01/10

A Ukrainian man was found hanged in a dis-used pub in Brentford. His body was decom-posed so the exact cause of death was difficultto establish. He had apparently been livingrough after his asylum claim had been refused.

l Serguei Serykh, (43), Tatiana Serykh,Stepan Serykh, (19), 07/03/10

Three Russians died after falling from the fif-teenth floor at the Red Road complex in theBalornock area of Glasgow, where asylum seek-ers are housed by the YMCA under contractswith the UKBA. According to media reports, the

family had been granted refugee status inCanada but refused citizenship. Following dis-putes with authorities, they had left and trav-elled to Europe, eventually seeking asylum inthe UK in 2007. The family apparently settledin Newham, east London where their asylumclaims were refused in December 2008. Theythen moved to Glasgow in autumn 2009. On 15February the family were told that they werefacing deportation, they could go voluntarilyor be forcibly deported, back to Russia. Thefamily were also thought to be facing evictionfrom their flat. Campaigners have called for afatal accident inquiry to be held into thedeaths.

n Ramahdin, (16), 11/04/10

An Afghan boy died in the early hours of themorning after apparently falling from a lorrythat had just boarded a boat near to Dunkirk.The young boy, named only as Ramahdin, wasapparently trying to reach his cousin who hadalready travelled clandestinely to the UK theweek before.

l u Eliud Nguli Nyenze, (40), 15/04/10

A Kenyan man died at Oakington removal cen-tre in Cambridge after apparently suffering aheart attack. Campaigners and other detaineesalleged that he had been refused medical care.Following his death a disturbance erupted atOakington and at least 60 people were trans-ferred to prisons. In the days following thedeath the private company that runs the cen-tre, G4S, was stripped of its British SafetyCouncil award for its ‘commitment to improvinghealth and safety’. An inquest in October 2010was told that he had collapsed in his room anddespite earlier complaining that he wasn’t wellhad been refused paracetamol. An ambulancetook twenty minutes to reach the centre andthe nurse who went to treat him did not take adefibrillator with her. The Home Office pathol-ogist could find no cause of death but suggest-ed sudden adult death syndrome. The coronerrecorded a verdict that he died of natural caus-es, a verdict Eliud’s family were unhappy with.

l Alan Rasoul Ahmed, Wales, (21),02/05/10

A man found hanged in accommodation inKensington, Liverpool. Alan had become


depressed over the final weeks of his life, hewas homesick and wanted to return home toIraq after his asylum claim was refused.Unfortunately being left in limbo and the painof wanting to return home became too muchfor him and his took his own life.

l Osman Rasul Mohammed, (27),25/07/10

An Iraqi Kurdish asylum seeker jumped fromthe seventh floor of a Nottingham tower block.On Sunday 25 July 2010, according to theGuardian, police officers talked to Osman as hewas perched by railings of Clifford Court inRadford for two hours before he placed hishand on his heart, looked up to the sky andjumped. Osman was destitute and relied on thegenerosity of his friends, many of whom werein a similar situation, and local charity distrib-uted by Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum(NNRF). Osman had been in the UK since 2001after fleeing Iraq when his father and brotherwere killed. He had been refused permission tostay in the UK but was in the process of sub-mitting a fresh asylum claim. As such he wasnot in receipt of any support from the govern-ment and was forced to live on the street with£20 per month and food parcels supplied byNNRF. He was not allowed to work and probablyhad little access to health care. He had separat-ed from his Polish partner with whom he hadtwo children. The Guardian also reported thathe had managed to make his way to London tovisit UKBA offices in Croydon but had beenturned away and told to find a solicitor. Osmanwas one of over 10,000 clients of the Refugeeand Migrant Justice (RMJ) charity that recentlywent into administration leaving its vulnerableclients without access to legal advice.

s Qabil Amin, (21), 22/08/10

An asylum seeker from Afghanistan found deadin the cab of a digger in Blackburn, Lancashire.He suffered from head injuries after the diggerhe was driving crashed. The UKBA commentedthat his ‘case for asylum was still under consid-eration at the time of his death, but the legal-ity of his work is still being looked at.’

l Unnamed man, (46), 12/10/10

An unnamed Angolan man died after becoming‘unwell’ during a deportation. According to the

Guardian the man was being escorted by threeguards from the private company G4S, on aflight that was preparing to leave fromHeathrow to Luanda, Angola, paramedics werecalled and the man was taken to Hillingdonhospital where he was pronounced dead. Policeare investigating the death.


Please see the IRR’s website for further information,particularly, the IRR’s report, Driven to DesperateMeasures, which examines deaths from 1989-2006: <http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/september/ha000013.html><http://www.irr.org.uk/pdf/Driventodesperatemeasures.pdf> (pdf file, 401kb)

Also view the IRR’s Fact file: roll call of deaths ofasylum seekers and undocumented migrants at: <http://www.irr.org.uk/2006/december/ak000016.html>

This research has drawn on local and national newsreports, minority ethnic press and information fromcommunity groups and campaigning groups. In addi-tion, we would like to thank the following individu-als and organisations for help.

Thanks to:

* Centre for Corporate Accountability* Emma Ginn (Medical Justice)* Kirsten Heaven (Garden Court chambers)* Trevor Hemmings (Statewatch)* INQUEST* Dashty Jamal (International Federation of IraqiRefugees)* Norah El Massioui* Margaret McAdam* Melanie McFadyean* National Coalition of Anti Deportation Campaigns* John O (Free Movement)* Positive Action in Housing* Southwark Day Centre for Refugees* Alison Thompson, (Coroner for West London)* Frances Webber* YMCA - Glasgow

Front cover pictures: top row from left to right:Jasraj Singh Kataria, Eliud Nguli Nyenze, AlekseyBaranovsky, the Serykh family (Serguei, Tatiana andStepan), Osman Rasul Mohammed, Dejere Kebede-Tulu. Second row: Asif Azmad, Heval Huseyn Ismail,Naser Al Shdaida, Baitul Atique, Abiy Fessfha Abebe,unidentified Asian stowaway.

Selected further reading

Sources and acknowledgments

Published by the Institute of RaceRelations© October 2010.

Institute of Race Relations 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS Tel: 020 7837 0041 Fax: 020 7278 0623 Web: www.irr.org.ukEmail: [email protected]

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