Refugee Week: The account of a young Iranian, beaten and imprisoned for demonstrating against the regime

N is an Iranian national and arrived in the UK when he was 16 years old. His family in Iran had a history of opposition to the Iranian regime. His father and uncle were executed when he was a child and his elder brother had also been detained. Prior to leaving Iran, Mr N attended a number of demonstrations against the regime. He was beaten severely by the authorities during the demonstrations and was eventually arrested by Iranian State Security. He was beaten and kept in solitary confinement for 3 months with little food and water and no access to daylight. He was forced to  sign a confession and was then transferred to prison where he spent 20 days before being released. Eventually he fled the country with the help of an uncle.

He claimed asylum in the UK but his case was refused by the Home Office. They did not accept that he was telling the truth about what had happened to him.

Brighton Housing Trust lodged an appeal to the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal and obtained evidence including a report documenting the torture he had suffered in support of his appeal. The judge accepted the evidence and found that Mr N would be at risk of detention and further ill treatment amounting to persecution if he was sent back to Iran.

Mr N’s appeal was allowed and he was found to be a refugee meaning that he will be permitted to remain in the UK and is no longer at risk of suffering further torture and ill treatment.

Refugee Week:The story of a 16 year old Syrian Kurd

S is a 16 year old Syrian Kurd. He had attended anti-government demonstrations in Syria and subsequently his family were targeted by the authorities leading to the disappearance of his mother, father and brother. He was able to flee to a relative’s house who immediately arranged his escape from Syria. Having made his way to the UK he claimed asylum.

The Home Office refused to accept that Syrian Kurds had played any significant part in the continuing turmoil in Syria and rejected his claim for asylum.

Detailed evidence was uncovered confirming the role that Kurds have played in the uprising in Syria and Brighton Housing Trust represented S at his appeal hearing. S was successful and the decision of the Home Office overturned resulting in a grant of Refugee Status to him and therefore the protection he requires in order to avoid him suffering the same fate as his family members.

Refugee Week: Story of a Somalian Refugee

O was an 18-year-old Somali national who last lived in a rural area of southern Somalia. He claimed to be from a minority clan.

His father had been killed by militia and his family had been sporadically targeted too. After a life of living in constant fear O crossed the border to Kenya and after some time there managed to persuade a local businessmen to fund his journey to the UK where he hoped to claim asylum and begin a new life where he could live in safety.

Once in England, O made his claim for asylum but the Home Office refused to accept his clan membership and rejected his claim.

Brighton Housing Trust identified and instructed a Somali clan expert who was able to verify O’s membership of the minority clan he belonged to. After a long battle the appeal against the refusal of his claim was allowed.

Not only has O now been granted Refugee Status but with the assistance of the Red Cross he has also been reunited with his two sisters.

O has now started to rebuild his life in the safety of the UK.

Why I don’t support the decriminalisation of drugs

The outgoing president of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir Ian Gilmore, has said the laws on misuse of drugs should be reviewed and that their supply should be regulated. 

While there are many superficial benefits, I have never supported decriminalisation because there are a number of basic questions that have not been properly thought through.

For example, from what age do you decriminalise drugs?  Should it be 18, as with alcohol?  Then what about the 14, 15, 16 year olds in our towns and cities who are using?  Do you leave under 18s in the hands of “violent gangsters”?  Or do we say there is no minimum age?  There can be nobody in their right mind who would advocate drug use amongst children.

Would we place restrictions on users? For example, would we require users to forfeit their driving licences since some drugs stay in the system for 4 weeks and influence reaction time and other performance?

Would we say that users should be allowed to have custody and responsibility for children?  We know that incidents of domestic violence and child abuse increase due to alcohol use.  Are we certain that by giving respectability to drug use that there will not be similar increases in neglect?

Do we really want to write off hundreds of thousands to a life of worklessness and benefit dependency?  I wouldn’t employ someone who is drunk at work, nor would I employ someone who is under the influence of drugs.  Most employers want clear minded, focused employees.

Alcohol use is closely related to availability. Things have become so much worse since the last government liberalised alcohol availability.  It seems shear lunacy to go down the same road with drugs and expect to arrive at a different destination.

Research by Exeter University identified its illegal status as the main reason why the majority of 15 year olds don’t experiment with cannabis

I support the policy changes being introduced by the coalition government to champion abstinence. Policy for the last 25 years has often resulted in addicts being supported to stay on drugs. I welcome the government’s greater ambition to commit itself to helping people to come off, and stay off, drugs.

A spokesperson for the Home Office said: “Drugs such as heroin, cocaine and cannabis are extremely harmful and can cause misery to communities across the country.  The government does not believe that decriminalisation is the right approach. Our priorities are clear; we want to reduce drug use, crack down on drug-related crime and disorder and help addicts come off drugs for good.”

I think the government has got it just right.