BID: unlawful detention cases

A number of cases of former BID clients, which had been referred for unlawful detention claims in the Administrative Court reached judgment.  In all three cases summarised here, their detention was ruled unlawful.

In October 2011, the High Court found that the detention of Mounir Raki, a client of BID’s, for over four years was ‘self-evidently unreasonable’. BID referred Mounir to Leigh Day & Co Solicitors, who represented him in this case. The Judge found that there was medical evidence that Mounir’s mental health was deteriorating because of his detention and he was seriously self-harming. The case was covered in the Guardian.

Previously, in August 2011, the High Court found that a former client of BID’s, who suffers from severe mental illness, was detained unlawfully by the UK Border Agency for five months. The claimant had a history of serious ill treatment and abuse prior to arriving in the UK , which had been accepted by a number of medical experts. The court found that the claimant’s immigration detention amounted to inhuman or degrading treatment in breach of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This is believed to be the first time that a UK court has found detention at an immigration removal centre to  have breached Article 3 ECHR. Bhatt Murphy solicitors represented the claimant, and you can download a summary of the case from their website.

Also in August 2011, the High Court found that Amin Sino, another former client of BID’s, was detained unlawfully for more than 4 years and 11 months. Amin was held in immigration detention following a six month prison sentence for theft of an oyster card and a return to custody order. The court found that there was no realistic prospect of deporting Amin within a reasonable time for the entire period of his detention. Philip Howell QC, the judge in the case, found that ‘…the basis on which the Secretary of State had sought to justify the Claimant’s ongoing detention was based on factual assumptions which were not true.’ Bhatt Murphy were the solicitors representing Amin Sino in this case, and a summary of the case can be downloaded from their website.

Bail for Immigration Detainees prepares and presents bail applications on behalf of asylum seekers and immigrants who are detained.

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