Category: Afghanistan

Controversial UK Immigration Policies: Public Reaction


Public reactions to immigration not straighforward

November 2025

The main news topic in the UK this month has been accommodation for asylum seekers, and the public reaction to the Government’s move to place claimants in military establishments following the furore over the use of hotels. Although such sites are expensive to run, the Home Office’s view is that ”quelling public disquiet was worth any extra cost.” Current plans include places for 900 claimants near Inverness, and 600 at Crowborough, East Sussex. Needless to say protests are already taking place. The Home Affairs Select Committee has expressed disapproval of the plans as unsuitable and requiring vast expenditure making the sites liveable. Figures for the numbers in hotel accommodation have fallen from 50,000 in June 20203 to 31,000 in June 2025.

A YouGov poll in 2022 revealed that the British public were split on whether or not immigration was good

for the country 29% for, 29% against. By 2025 the equivalent figures were 20% and 43%, and three quarters of responders thought immigration too high. The change in view has been put down to “imagined immigration”, whereby the population has acquired an incorrect understanding of the reality. For example, 47% of respondents believe that there is more illegal than legal immigration (small boat arrivals are actually 4% of the total).

The Government’s decision to end the family reunion process continues to cause concern. It has been suggested that this was an idea taken up from Denmark’s current hardline policy on immigration, and that the Home Secretary is minded to follow more Danish policies, such as allowing in only claimants who are known targets of their home government. The Home Secretary’s plan for a “major shake-up of the immigration and asylum system later this month” will probably take account of other aspects of the Danish system, possibly including its policy of “parallel societies” (removing people from integrated areas to encourage homogeneous neighbourhoods in a two-tier system: catch Iain Watson’s Radio 4 programme “Immigration: the Danish Way” for the story.) [limited time].

In Parliament, the Border Safety, Asylum and Immigration Bill is still in the Lords, where Lord Dubs has an amendment to counter the removal of family reunion by allowing the entry of children lost on the way to this country. This may pass.

Another controversial area of  policy has been Afghanistan, where people who worked for the previous government are being refused asylum as the Home Office claims they are not vulnerable to the Taliban. The organisation Asylos has a paper that has a different view, based on information from on the ground.

On the small boats front, there were 14 consecutive days in late October/early November when no boats crossed the Channel, since when a 1200 arrivals came in two days with better weather. The “one-in, one-out” arrangement with France continues in existence as a pilot scheme, but no assessment has yet been offered.

An interesting view of the prospects for migration comes from Britain in a Changing Europe’s James Bowes, who thinks that migration levels to the UK will fall dramatically. Most of this will be among legal migrants being denied visas, but lower numbers from Ukraine and Hong Kong will also have an effect; total net migration, he predicts, will fall to 70-170,000 in 2026 (the figure was 431,000 in 2024).

The journal Border Criminologies has noted that European governments have been using migrants’ mobile phone data to criminalise them rather than doing proper assessments. This story may get bigger.

There are numerous ongoing campaigns around. Next year’s Refugee Week (15th – 21st June) has as its theme “Courage”; Safe Passage are running a campaign against the family reunion policy under the title “Together Not Torn” “and Refugee Action are encouraging fundraising activities in the pre-Christmas period. Details can be found at https://www.refugee-action.org.uk/campaigns/

AH

https://salisburyai.com

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2024: A deadly year for journalists


Journalists are dying in large numbers around the world. Gaza the deadliest

July 2024

Journalist have a bad press and sometimes rate along with estate agents (realtors) in public’s low esteem. It is a shame that the antics of those working at the tabloid end of the market producing biased and and highly distorted stories and who were collectively engaged in phone hacking, should taint the whole sector. We depend on journalists to find out what is going on and tell us. With ever more secretive governments, the steady rise of authoritarianism and governments in hock to commercial interests, we do rather depend on such people to shine a light on it all depressing though it may be. Journalism is under threat from social media and it is not unusual for find young people who do not engage with either newspapers or with mainstream TV at all.

Russia

The latest edition of Amnesty Now describes some of the worst instances. 124 journalists were killed last year while doing their job. The Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko was arrested following her report of an attack by the Russians on a theatre which had been sheltering civilians. The Russians denied anyone was killed in the attack and said she was disseminating false information and sentenced her to 6 years imprisonment.

In prison she has experienced ill-treatment including spells of solitary confinement in a punishment cell designed to break prisoner’s spirits. She was then sent to a penal colony 900 kilometres from her home town making family visits impossible. Russia is one of the worst offenders with 30 journalists at least behind bars.

Afghanistan

Amnesty reports that since the Taliban took control in 2021, press freedom has all but evaporated. All information is controlled by the government. Mahdi Ansari was working for the Afghan News Agency when he was arrested without cause. He was kept in solitary confinement and when he finally arrived in court he was denied a lawyer and sentenced to a year and a half in prison for ‘spreading propaganda’. The Afghanistan Journalists Center have estimated 50 journalist detentions in 2024. The human rights situation in the country is appalling and are almost non-existent for women.

Israel and Gaza

Gaza is the deadliest place for journalists where around 70% of all deaths occur. Wearing a press jackets is no longer a protection but makes you a target according to the Sunday Times.

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England’s Cricket Controversy: Taliban and Women’s Rights


Minister supports England playing Afghanistan despite Taliban’s actions against women
January 2025

In a recent post, we criticised the International Cricket Council’s decision to carry on with games involving Afghanistan. This decision was made despite the multiple and atrocious actions by the Taliban against women. A large number of MPs have argued that games should be banned in view of the dire nature of women’s rights in that county.

Lisa Nandy MP, the culture and sports minister disagrees and thinks the games should go ahead. She said in an interview the following:

  • It will deny sports fans the opportunity that they love,
  • She was instinctively against boycotts in sports, partly because they are counterproductive,
  • ‘I think they deny sports fans the opportunity they love, and they penalise the athletes and sports people who work very, very hard to reach the top of their game’,
  • They will not be rolling out the ‘red carpet’ she said and instanced the Winter Olympics, where she was vocal saying ‘we did not give the Chinese the PR coup that they were looking for’,
  • Keir Starmer added that he welcomed the England and Wales Cricket Board making strong representations to the ICC on Afghanistan’s Women’s cricket team. Rather missing the point that the team no longer exists.

It is likely that women in Afghanistan will be unimpressed by these arguments. Sports people being denied the ‘opportunity they love’ has to be set against the fact that women in Afghanistan do not have thls or any other opportunity. Not education, going out unescorted, being seen at a window or work are ‘opportunities’ unavailable to them. They cannot walk the street without being clad head to toe with a grill across their eyes.

And who is the ‘we’ in the statement ‘we will not be rolling out the red carpet’? It has nothing to do with Ms Nandy how much publicity, attention and coverage these games get. As for the prime minister expecting the ICC to make ‘strong representations’ to the Taliban about a non-existant women’s cricket team who have had to flee the country, it is almost laughable if it wasn’t so serious.

The essential question is: will playing cricket with an Afghani men’s team make an iota of difference to the wretched lives being lived by women and girls in that country? It is unlikely. Will playing cricket with an Afghani men’s team make matters worse? Probably. It will send a message to the Taliban that women can be treated abominably yet a British minister – and a female British minister – seems to care more for ‘not denying sports fans the sport they love’ than for women in their country. She is anxious ‘not to penalise the sports people who work so hard to reach the top of their game’. Does not the word ‘people’ include women? They won’t be working hard or working at all to reach the top of their game. Because they are banned.

To pretend that the ICC or any of these sporting bodies will make strong – or indeed any kind of representation – to the Taliban is a fantasy. Sport at this level is about money. And the Taliban will correctly assume that the ICC is more concerned about money than it is about women being allowed to play cricket. Or women being allowed to marry whom they wish. Or girls not being forced into marriage with much older men. Or women being able to acquire an education. Or women being allowed to walk the streets without being totally covered over. Or women not being allowed to get a job. Or women not receiving help and support as a result of domestic violence.

The irony is that cricket was an important element of the British Empire. The game was introduced into more or less all the colonies. But with it came a culture, the idea of gentlemanly conduct, and fair play. It was more than just a game for the colonialists. It was seen as a civilising force. It was a key showpiece for civility. We no longer have an empire but the concepts of the game live on. Yet here we have a situation where cricket is being used by a monstrous regime to promote itself on the world stage supported by a British minister.

Sources include: Portico Magazine, Kent Messenger; The Guardian

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Cricket and Afghanistan women


Do cricketing authorities have any moral compass at all?

January 2025

For women, life under the Taliban is like living in a prison. Even prisons have windows but the latest edict from the Taliban is that no new buildings can have a window through which a woman can be seen. Existing buildings must have such windows blocked up or screened off. The reason is “seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts”. Thus spoke Hibatullah Akhundzada, leader of the Taliban.

This is just the latest draconian measure. Women have no rights to free movement, education or work. Outside they must be completely covered over. Protections for girls and women subject to domestic abuse have been demolished. There has been a surge of forced marriages for girls and women. A full report, published by Amnesty called Death in Slow Motion reveals the full horrific nature of life for women, if ‘life’ be the correct word to use, in Afghanistan.

Enter cricket and the question of whether England should play Afghanistan: men, of course, because women are not allowed to play cricket or anything else, and members of the nascent women’s cricket team fled the country. This brings up the familiar question of whether we should engage in sporting activities with countries that have little concept of, or adherence to, human rights. We have discussed Saudi Arabia’s huge investment in sport and the recent disgraceful decision to award them the football (soccer, US) World Cup.

Bizarrely the Guardian reports (7 January) the England and Wales Cricket Board are refusing to schedule games against Afghanistan out of concern for a deterioration of basic human rights for women in the country. They are however, along with Australia, happy to play them in next month’s Champions Trophy. They are quoted as saying that they do not think a ban would make much difference to the ruling party there and that a unilateral decision would be less effective than a unified one by the International Cricket Council.

What should be the response for sporting bodies to taking part in sports with regimes who do not observe human rights for all or part of their citizenry? Does playing sport offer hope as the ECB argue? Or does continuing to play sport bolster the regimes and enables them to bask in the publicity while doing nothing to improve rights? Indeed, does sport actually make matters worse? During the communist era, East Germany and USSR for example, used sport to promote the idea of a healthy and successful society. The Saudi regime is investing billions in its sporting activities simply to promote the country to the world. We call it ‘sportswashing’. This enables regimes to sanitise their image knowing that the excitement of sport will give them massive uncritical coverage.

Will playing cricket against Afghanistan offer hope in the country? It might provide some amusement to Afghan men to watch their team, but the women? On the one hand it might put a spotlight on the country and its appalling treatment of women (good). On the other, it offers some favourable publicity to the regime and demonstrates to Afghanis that when money is on offer, the West very quickly loses its moral scruples (bad).

Meanwhile, a group of politicians led by Tonia Antiniazzi (Lab), has written to the ECB expressing their deep concern. The ECB’s responses can be seen in this BBC Sport report. Neither local MPs, John Glen nor Danny Kruger have signed the letter.

Sources: ECB, The Guardian, Amnesty International, BBC

Peter Curbishley

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Film: The Breadwinner


The Oscar nominated film The Breadwinner is showing this Friday, 8 March at the Arts Centre in Salisbury at 7:30 pm.  It concerns a young girl who pretends to be a boy in Taliban controlled Afghanistan to enable her to look after her family.  Cert 12A.  Tickets available from the Arts Centre, 01722 320 333, at the door or on line https://www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk/whats-on/salisbury-arts-centre/the-breadwinner/#book-tickets

There will be a short introduction by a member of our group.  If you are interested in joining the group we shall be around before and after the showing so it would be a good time to make yourself known.

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Salisbury refugee


UPDATE: 26 January

There is now a Change.org petition highly critical of the government and the lack of any response from the Home office minister Caroline Nokes,  The comments are worth reading and mostly supportive of his case.

UPDATE: January 25: 15:30

Reza now in Afghanistan  Salisbury Journal 25th

UPDATE: January 23, 18:00

Reza is reported to be in Kabul see https://www.change.org/p/home-office-stop-deportation-of-reza-to-afghanistan

UPDATE: January 22, 18:00

Latest news is the Reza is due to be deported at any moment.

 

Further developments with Reza Maghsoudi

Readers may recall an earlier post about a refugee from Afghanistan who has been living in this country for some years and Salisbury for 2, who went to Melksham police station for a routine appointment, whereupon he was arrested and sent to a Detention Centre prior to a planned deportation.  Reza Maghsoudi gained some local publicity and there was a follow-up item on BBC Wiltshire last month.

In today’s Salisbury Journal (4 January 2018), the Salisbury MP Mr Glen, in his View from the Commons piece, devotes some space to Reza’s case:

I was in my office at 9am on January 2nd to plan my latest intervention on behalf of Reza Maghsoudi, the young Afghan national who is facing deportation.  His many allies in Salisbury have been fighting compassionately and tirelessly to help him regularize his immigration status so that he can continue with his life he has built here – the dear friends he has made and the skills he has learned.

A decision is due and I have been keen to once again to ensure that the case in on the personal radar of the minister so that the significant new evidence that has come to light in recent week can be taken into account.

This is of course encouraging and we hope that the combination of publicity and political pressure bear fruit.

Why are we here?

But why do we have a situation like this in the first place?  Why do we have a series of policies whereby someone like Reza is held in a detention centre and is under constant threat of deportation?  The answer of course is because for some years now the government has pursued aggressive policies in an attempt to reduce immigration.  These have included:

  • plans to reduce immigration to the ‘tens of thousands’
  • tightening of work visa eligibility
  • greater scrutiny of students concerning their eligibility to stay and study
  • reducing benefits to the lowest level in Europe
  • provision of sub-standard housing and is what the home affairs sub-committee described as ‘disgraceful’.
  • introducing bureaucratic delays which regularly force people into destitution according to the Refugee Council.

The benefit reductions came about because it was claimed by David Cameron, when he was the prime minister, that our benefits were a ‘magic pull’ to people wishing to come here.  There was no evidence for this.  This led to cuts trumpeted to save £500m.  These attitudes have been stirred up by some of the media who have great influence on government policy.  One media commentator called refugees ‘cockroaches’ in the Daily Mail for example.  Despite research evidence to show that immigrants are of net benefit to the UK economy, politicians and some media editors constantly refer to them as a ‘problem’ and a drain on the economy.  They are seen as another form of scrounger.  People seeking asylum – like Reza – have been conflated with immigration as a deliberate policy (Migration Policy).

So Reza is a small part of a concerted programme of demonizing immigrants and asylum seekers by legal restrictions, benefit reductions and detaining them in detention centres.  It is interesting to contrast the plans being prepared by Mr Glen in the Salisbury Journal piece with a rather different speech he made in the House Of Commons:

One aspect of that reform, referred to in the Queen’s Speech, is access to benefits for immigrants. It is right that the Government are considering limiting access to housing benefit and health care for people who have not earned the right to it. It is not enough to keep ignoring that uncomfortable truth because we are frightened of being too right wing, too nasty or too unpleasant. The routine experience of people up and down this country is that on the front line, at the point of delivery and at the point of receiving public services, they are too often displaced by people who, apparently, should not have the right to access those services. I am pleased that the Government will address that in legislation.   (Source: Theyworkforyou.com, May 2013 Queen’s Speech debate (our highlight)

Mr Reza’s case is not about benefits but it is about the attitudes of a government who have adopted an aggressive approach based upon misinformation and media attacks.  We wish Reza every success.

xenophobic-headlines

Sources: BBC; fullfacts.org; Refugee Council; Migration Policy; UCL; Guardian; Independent

 

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Salisbury refugee arrested


UPDATE: 22 February

Reported in the Salisbury Journal that Reza in ‘in a really bad place’ physically and mentally.  See the Journal article.

 

A Salisbury refugee has been arrested and is under threat of deportation

A refugee who has been living in Salisbury for 2 years was back in the news this week following his arrest in Melksham.  He was scheduled to be deported back to Afghanistan, the second most dangerous country in the world according to the FCO.

Reza Magsoudi fled Afghanistan in 2004 when he was 13 and travelled alone to the UK.  Early in November 2017 he was summoned to Melksham police station for the routine procedure of declaring his whereabouts in the UK, whereupon he was arrested.  He was taken to Tinsley House in Gatwick from where he was due to be deported.

He was granted leave to remain in 2008 and has applied for asylum but for the most part without legal assistance.  His English is said to be poor.  There is now to be a judicial review.  A Change.org petition has achieved 73,000 signatures.

He has been supported during his stay in Salisbury by Derri Southwood who has had considerable difficulty in making contact since his incarceration in Gatwick.  BBC Wiltshire had several pieces on this topic on their morning show this week and a reporter has gained access to Tinsley House but was unable to tape an interview with him.

Issues

The case raises a number of issues concerning asylum policy in the UK and highlights the country’s poor record in offering a home to those fleeing war-torn countries.  The UK does however contribute a great deal of aid to those countries who have high levels of refugees but is reluctant to help those who come here.

Part of the reason is the myth that large numbers of people are ‘flooding’ into the country.  The facts do not support this myth.  Countries such as Turkey, Pakistan and Jordan have a much, much higher numbers in their countries out of a world wide population of around 14 million refugees.  By contrast, in quarter 2 of this year for example, there were 6,172 applications for asylum of which 65% were refused.  This sort of statistic is fairly constant quarter by quarter (Source: Refugee Council).  This is a tiny number of people in view of the world wide figure yet the impression created by some sections of the media is that we are somehow the principal port of call for refugees.

The UK no longer has a welcoming attitude to refugees and successive policies have sought to make it tougher and tougher to achieve leave to remain.  An analysis of statistics and policy by four newspapers (Guardian; Le monde; Der Spiegel and El Pais) found that:

The analysis found that Britain takes fewer refugees, offers less generous financial support, provides housing that is often substandard, does not give asylum seekers the right to work, has been known to punish those who volunteer and routinely forces people into destitution and even homelessness when they are granted refugee status due to bureaucratic delays.

This was worse than any other country except Italy.

What is often overlooked in these debates is that the reason why there is conflict and a country riven by war is partly the result of our colonial and imperial activities in the past.  Most obviously the Israeli and Palestinian conflict; the division of lands in the middle east after the fall of the Ottoman Empire following the Great War; the Yemen conflict today where we continue to sell arms to the Saudis causing enormous hardship to the people there, and our invasion of Libya which has led to instability, violence and also allowed people smugglers to prosper.  So we had a major historical impact and continue to do so by supplying arms which increases the level of conflict.

Looking at the below the line comments in the Salisbury Journal article, one gets a taste of the vitriol that the whole question of refugees generates.  Someone who calls him or herself ‘art91e’ says:

He has no right to be here, he serves no useful purpose, he’s illiterate after 13 years here, so he certainly did not do an apprenticeship … that is a lie!  Send him home asap.

The great majority of comments were sympathetic however.

Mr Glen, the Salisbury MP, has become involved and has promised to make contact with the minister’s office and to do what he can.  The problem – not unique to MPs like Mr Glen – is that the Home Office is carrying out government policy which has been supported by him.  It illustrates the problem of myths in the media being left unchallenged but which have a huge influence on how people think.  This drives policy and has created a harsh environment for asylum seekers.  They have become a problem best solved by keeping them out in the first place and then throwing them out if at all possible if they do make it here.

We await developments.

Don’t forget to visit our refugee photo exhibition in the Library which is running until the end of December.  Please sign or comment in the visitor’s book if you do go.  Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, Salisburyai.

We shall be card signing in the Library passage on Saturday morning 16th between 10 and noon.

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Afghanistan


Britain’s role in Afghanistan is coming to an after over a decade of bloodshed and war.  It is doubtful that the country is in a fit state to function effectively since the Taliban and the warlords are still very much in evidence and there are reports of ISIS being present in the country as well.  After all this time it is easy to forget some of the original aims which were defeating terrorism and the Taliban.  We can also forget that it was the CIA who helped establish, arm and train the Taliban in order to assist them in their fight with the Russians.

One of the major victims of the years of war is women.  It has turned thousand of Afghan women into refugees and widows – or both – and made it dangerous for them to seek schooling, go out to work, get healthcare or secure paid employment.  Before the arrival of the Taliban in 1996, women’s rights had steadily improved and indeed, there are many photographs from that era women and girls in schools and university with not a burqa or veil in sight.  Improving the rights of women became one of the additional aims of the invasion and it will be recalled that Cherie Blair – wife of the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair – hosted an event in 10, Downing Street in 2001 with this aim in mind.  Kofi Annan said:

There cannot be true peace and recovery in Afghanistan without a restoration of the rights of women.

Similar sentiments were expressed by the then secretary of state Colin Powell:

The recovery of Afghanistan must entail a restoration of the rights of women, indeed it will not be possible without them.

Abdul Hakim Hashemi Hademi
Abdul Hakim Hashemi Hademi

At the South West regional conference of Amnesty International it was heartening to hear from someone who has worked to improve the status of women through theatre and artistic groups in the countryside.  The speaker was Abdul Hakim Hashemi Hamidi who set up the Simorgh Film Association of Culture and Art, SFACA.  Unlike many aid programmes which tend to stay in Kabul or the main cities, SFACA goes out into the countryside and to the villages.

He has organised educational theatre workshops in prisons, juvenile correction centres, drug addiction rehabilitation centres, in schools and with the police.  He has produced films with an emphasis on human rights and the role of women.

Not all the problems faced by women are solely to do with the Taliban. Another factor is honour killings which are at a very high rate in the country.  57% are identified as the responsibility of a family member and 21% by the husband.  The perpetrator of 43% killings is unclear however.  A telling quote from the PowerPoint display was:

A problem with women [is] because men don’t accept women have rights

He went on to discuss the problems of human rights defenders in Afghanistan. These included difficulty in

Delegates at the South West Region conference
Delegates at the South West Region conference

travelling to some areas combined with a lack of government control in some parts of the country, traditional beliefs and illiteracy.  Religion was a main cause he said and human rights are seen as a western construct.  He urged that the UK government consider the role of human rights defenders in their discussions with the Afghans.

It was an interesting and uplifting talk by someone who has taken risks to go into the Afghanistan countryside to promote the rights of women.  Abdul is a visiting fellow on the Protective Fellowship Scheme for Human Rights Defenders at York University.  There is a permanent link to the York University Centre for Applied Human Rights at the bottom of the main page.

Sources:

Watson Institute

Global Research

Amnesty International

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#deathpenalty report


This is the monthly death penalty report thanks to Lesley.

General

  • UK
  • 19th Sept – A Death Row Pop Up Restaurant offering a ‘last meal without the nasty execution bit’ was due to open in No to the death penaltyHoxton, London.  Condemned by Amnesty as ‘in appallingly bad taste’, the owners initially issued an apology but later withdrew it, saying ‘all over the world there are attractions that have the potential to offend’
  • LC spoke with Kate Allen at the recent Stop Torture Campaign Skills Day and raised the Group’s concern that the Death Penalty was no longer a distinct campaign.   Kate noted our concern, but said AI needed to look more to local groups to take the campaign forward. 
  • Pakistan – Mohammed Asghar, the British Pakistani 70 year old with paranoid schizophrenia, sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’ was shot and badly injured in his prison cell by a prison guard. There is an on-line 38 Degrees Petition calling on David Cameron to press his case with the Pakistan Government.
  • USA
  • 21st September – the third anniversary of the execution of the execution of Troy Davis.  An excerpt from the statement issued by the National Coalition for the Abolition of the Death Penalty reads: ‘……. I am Troy Davis. And we are 90 million strong. You, Xxxxx, are Troy Davis, and we are 90 million stronger – because of you. Together we are building the ground-game state by state and nationwide to fulfil Troy’s wishes: to keep fighting this battle until we end the death penalty once and for all.’
  • Texas – News today (9 October) that Manuel Velez was released from prison following 6 years on Death Row and 9 years in prison. Convicted and sentenced to death in 2008 for the killing of his girlfriend’s child, in 2012 his death sentence was thrown out because of false testimony during the sentencing phase.  A new trial was ordered because of inadequate legal assistance in his original trial.  The DA’s office continue to maintain, however, that he contributed to the child’s death.  See a separate post on this subject. 
  • Afghanistan – Despite attempts by AI and other Human Rights Organisations to persuade the new President, Ashraf Ghani, to stop the execution of 5 men convicted of rape, they were hanged on 8th October.  There were accusations of a lack of evidence and forced confessions. 

Death Penalty Statistics for 2013

  • 778 executions were known to have been carried out in 22 countries
  • 1,925 people in 57 countries were known to have been sentenced to death
  • 23,392 people were known to have been on death row world-wide
  • These figures do not include the thousands of executions likely to have taken place in China where they are a state secret.

Urgent Actions

  • Iran – UA 85/14 – (update) Reyhaneh Jabbari – her execution date of 30th September was deferred, but she remains at risk as the family of the man killed (who Reyhaneh claims sexually assaulted her) could request her execution at any time.  David Cameron has spoken out on her behalf to President Rouhani, and been criticised for ‘unacceptable remarks’.  Circulated to DPLWG; posted on the Group’s blog – 1.10.14. This month’s Group Urgent Action.
  • Bahrain – UA 252/14 – Maher Abbas Ahmad – sentenced to death in February for the premeditated murder of a policeman at a ‘gathering’, has lodged his final appeal and could be at risk of execution. He told his lawyer he was tortured into making a confession. Circulated to DPLWG 9.10.14.

Campaigning

  • World Day Against the Death Penalty – 10th October.   The Group are asked to sign cards to be sent to Reggie Clemons
  • Death Penalty Stall – A signing event will take place on Saturday ll1th October from 9.00-12..00 mid-day in the Library Covered Way. We will be asking the public to sign cards calling for justice for Moses Akatugba, the young Nigerian tortured and sentenced to death for the alleged theft of three mobile phones.

 

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