Written question asked by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Baroness Scotland of Asthal (Labour) on Monday, 19 December 2005.

Iraq: Asylum Seekers

Question: What procedures they followed to ensure that persons removed to Iraq on 20 November (a) were from the Kurdish regional government; and (b) were without families; and that their cases did not fall within the Rashid judgment (EWCA/Civ/2005/744).

Answer: All enforced removals are carried out on a case by case basis. Those returned to Iraq were aware that they were being removed to Erbil. All potential returnees were carefully screened to ensure that they were from the three northern governorates and they had no dependants on their asylum claim; this was carried out again before removal took place. Until the timeframe which Justice Collins has highlighted is clarified we will seek to remove only those claimants whose cases were not decided in that timeframe or whose cases otherwise fall outside the potential scope of Rashid, even on a wide reading of that judgment.

Secondary information