Deported mother collapses at appeal

The mother of the Afghan family seized from a mosque and deported by the government collapsed during an appeal hearing yesterday, prompting an adjournment.

The mother of the Afghan family seized from a mosque and deported by the government collapsed during an appeal hearing yesterday, prompting an adjournment.

Feriba Ahmadi, who was due to give evidence to the hearing via a video link, became distressed and was ushered out of the room, which was within government offices in Nuremberg, Germany. She had been attending in the presence of her husband, Farid, their lawyer, and an interpreter.

The hearing, taking place at an immigration appellate authority centre at Hatton Cross, west London, will determine whether the home secretary's decision to deport the family had violated their human rights.

The case marks the first time that a video link has been used for an immigration hearing. A technical glitch interrupted proceedings for 15 minutes after the sound failed on the German side.

Pierre Makhlouf, the family's solicitor, disappeared from view after Mrs Ahmadi collapsed. An ambulance siren was then heard. Mrs Ahmadi, 24, was treated by a doctor and taken away to rest.

The adjudicator, Judith Davidson, adjourned the case until this morning after a psychiatrist, Stuart Turner, who had examined the Ahmadis in Germany, told the appeal he had "serious concerns" about Mr Ahmadi's ability to give accurate evidence due to his wife's collapse and his health.

The family fled Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 2000, claiming they were persecuted and tortured because Mr Ahmadi's father was an army brigadier in an earlier regime. They spent seven months in asylum camps in Germany before travelling to the UK.

David Blunkett, the home secretary, had ordered their deportation back to Germany, but in September Mr Justice Scott Baker, in the high court, ruled that the move was illegal.

Earlier, the hearing was told that the Home Office had obtained a statement given by the Ahmadis to German immigration authorities, before they came to Britain, in which they gave the names and addresses of "a male and a female" whom they claimed were relatives in Germany.

James Badenoch QC, representing the family, asked the adjudicator to adjourn the case to "interview the woman and possibly the man about the relationship and the social contact between them". He added that "the names came to be given by intervention of one third party".

The adjudicator refused to adjourn the case, accepting the argument made by Neil Garnham QC, representing the home secretary, that the Ahmadis "must have always known" that the information was not "new" to them.

Before the family's removal, lawyers had argued that the Ahmadis should stay in Britain, otherwise the mental health of the mother and her two children, aged four and six, would deteriorate if they were sent back to Germany where they said they had no family support.

The family was removed to Germany where they first claimed asylum last month.

In July, civil rights groups had expressed outrage when a battering ram was used during a raid to evict the family from a West Midlands mosque.

A judge ruled in September that the Ahmadis should have stayed in Britain to challenge the deportation. However, he had refused to allow them back to Britain to have their appeal heard and agreed only to the video link. The government is paying for lawyers and medical personnel to fly to Germany to take statements.

Contributor

Raekha Prasad

The GuardianTramp

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