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May 11, 2006

Hi-Jacking, Asylum and Afghanistan

Immigration seems to be in the news a lot lately - both in the US and the UK. In 2000, nine Afghans hijacked a plane and flew it into Stanstead Airport, London - in order to claim asylum from the Taliban regime.

The UK government would now like to deport these nine, in order to avoid encouraging future hijackers (although it should be noted that these men had their convictions quashed on appeal). However, the High Court is insisting that these men cannot be deported to Afghanistan - as this would not be safe for them.

Tony Blair views the ruling as an "abuse of common sense", but I'm not convinced that the 'common sense' of many in the country would want refugees - who fled a regime whose human rights abuses were emphasised by the UK government - to be deported into a dangerous situation.

What the government here is less keen to discuss is why - so many years after the start of Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan is still nowhere near being a safe place for refugees to return to. Abuses of human rights in Afghanistan, at least, are Enduring.

Posted by jon_mendel at May 11, 2006 11:19 AM