2004
Some stories
Significant deterioration to detainees' mental health
The Royal College of Psychiatrists has stated that the 'sense of powerlessness' experienced by the Belmarsh detainees 'is likely to cause significant deterioration to [their] mental health'.
22 December 2004 (248 words)
Law Lords rule 'terror detentions' discriminatory and disproportionate
David Blunkett's anti-terrorist measures were thrown into disarray this morning as the highest court in the land ruled that the indefinite detention of foreign nationals under the 2001 Terror Act was incompatible with human rights.
16 December 2004 (549 words)
Caring for Minority Ethnic elders in Europe
The rapid ageing of Europe's population has become Europe's number one issue according to an MEP speaking, on 9 December 2004, at the launch of the Summary Findings from the Minority Elderly Care (MEC) project.
15 December 2004 (571 words)
Do you have a vision to change the world?
To celebrate the centenary of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT), the organisation has set up a new scheme to find 'six visionaries', who can work towards making 'the world - or part of it - more just and more peaceful'
13 December 2004 (246 words)
Report finds no contradiction in being British and Muslim
A new report published by the Islamic Human Rights Commission, based on a survey of more than 1,000 British Muslims, has found that there is little or no trade-off between being a good British citizen and having Islamic values.
7 December 2004 (362 words)
Did delay in treatment contribute to the death of a Turkish asylum seeker?
The family of Elmas Ozmico, a Turkish asylum seeker, believe that earlier medical intervention might have saved her life. This is one of the questions the family desperately want answered at the inquest into her death.
2 December 2004 (429 words)
The grim fate that awaits those deported to Congo
In an interview with IRR News, Congolese human rights activist René Kabala Mushiya alleges that asylum seekers deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) face prison and death.
2 December 2004 (1502 words)
Another asylum seeker dies in detention
Yet another asylum seeker appears to have taken his own life while in detention - bringing to four the number of asylum seekers who have died in self-harm incidents in British prisons or immigration removal centres so far this year.
11 November 2004 (260 words)
Dossier reveals failure to investigate complaints of racism at Leeds Prison
Solicitors are urging the Commission for Racial Equality, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) and the Prison Service to take action over allegations of prison officer abuse and racism at Leeds prison, where Shahid Aziz was murdered earlier this year.
11 November 2004 (292 words)
Did undue pressure on an asylum seeker lead to his suicide?
The suicide of an Ethiopian asylum seeker has led refugee support workers to question methods being used by government officials to gain information.
29 October 2004 (342 words)
Open verdict on death of asylum seeker who slept in a wheelie bin
Not suicide but an open verdict, was the pronouncement of coroner Leonard Gorodkin on the death of a failed asylum seeker, who walked in to the offices of Refugee Action in Manchester and set himself on fire.
26 October 2004 (644 words)
'I prefer to be killed here than go back to my own country'
A meeting at the House of Commons on 19 October saw the launch of a report on women's experience of immigration detention in the UK.
21 October 2004 (1041 words)
Protection FROM refugees
Detention in Europe, published this week, by the Jesuit Refugee Service in Europe criticises European refugee policies as 'repressive and restrictive', and moving from the 'protection of refugees' to 'protection from refugees'.
12 October 2004 (266 words)
Suspected of something - accused of nothing
On Sunday 3 October over 300 people - campaigners, families and concerned individuals - gathered outside Belmarsh prison to protest against the detention without trial of eleven men, all 'foreign nationals' and all Muslim.
6 October 2004 (299 words)
Sikh victim of vicious racist attack
A Sikh human rights activist has been brutally beaten by racists in Coventry.
30 September 2004 (199 words)
Stealing a nation
A new documentary by John Pilger, to be screened next Wednesday, reveals how in the 1960s Britain secretly and brutally expelled the inhabitants of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean - so that the US could build a military base there.
29 September 2004 (718 words)
Resource for Black organisations published
The National Institute of Adult and Continuing Education (NIACE) has published Fail to Plan: Plan to Fail, a toolkit to help black voluntary and community organisations obtain funding.
20 September 2004 (191 words)
Race & Class celebrates milestone
Speaking at the 30-year celebration of the radical journal Race & Class, IRR chair Colin Prescod took stock of the past, while founder editor A. Sivanandan called for new political analysis to inform struggles against racism, empire and globalisation over the coming years.
15 September 2004 (404 words)
Books not bars for Rachid Ramda
Rachid Ramda, an Algerian asylum seeker, has been detained in Belmarsh maximum security prison for the last nine years - even though he has not been convicted of any crime.
15 September 2004 (317 words)
Huge response to Omid Jamil Ali appeal
An appeal by an Iraqi family for the body of their migrant son to be returned home for burial, three years after he died trying to enter Britain, has received a strong response from IRR News' readers. The necessary £3,100 has now been raised.
9 September 2004 (466 words)