HC Deb 02 November 1987 vol 121 cc651-2 3.31 pm
Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the treatment of Abdul Behvand and Parivash Moosavi, and their application for asylum to enter this country". The background to this case is that Mr. Behvand has been in active opposition to the Khomeini regime in Iran for many years. He worked in the oil industry and was active in promoting independent trade unionism. This marked him out for opposition by the Iranian Government. Indeed, three of his colleagues were executed for their opposition to that Government and to the war. Several times in the past few years Mr. Behvand has been arrested and beaten up while in custody in Iran. That caused him to go into hiding, from which he managed to escape from Iran briefly into India.

After arriving in India, Mr. Behvand and his wife were able to travel to Sweden this summer, where he applied for political asylum. After that application had been made, they were held in detention for one week. The application was refused and they were put on a plane, accompanied by two policemen, to travel back to Iran. They arrived at Heathrow airport in transit to take an Air Iran flight direct to Teheran. It was not until they arrived at the transit lounge at Heathrow that they were able to make contact with me and the representatives of various refugee organisations. That was a month ago.

It was then that they made an application to enter this country and for their case to be properly considered. They were taken to the Harmondsworth detention centre, given temporary admission and allowed to remain in a hotel in west London until this Saturday morning, when they were told to report to Heathrow airport for interview about their case.

When they arrived at Heathrow airport on Saturday—a day on which no court is sitting and when no lawyers or members of this place can be contacted—they were told that they would have to leave Britain that afternoon to return to Sweden, where their application for political asylum had already been rejected.

I made a number of requests throughout Saturday and had a long conversation with the chief immigration officer to ask that the case be deferred so that legal considerations could come into play and they could be allowed to remain in this country so that a proper asylum application could be made. At that point the immigration service bundled this family on a plane some two hours before it was due to take off. In an act of sheer desperation, Mrs. Moosavi slashed her wrist. The air crew of Scandinavian Airlines refused to fly the plane with the family on board. Accordingly they were taken from the plane and given temporary admission to this country until 3 November, which is tomorrow.

I shall be brief, Mr. Speaker, and finish my application. This tragic story——

Mr. Speaker

Order. The hon. Gentleman had his time and has made his point.

Mr. Corbyn

I have not finished.

Mr. Speaker

There is a three-minute limit.

The hon. Gentleman asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he thinks should have urgent consideration, namely, the treatment of Mr. Abdul Behvand and Mrs. Moosavi and their application for asylum". I have listened with concern to what the hon. Gentleman has said, but I regret that the matter is not appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 20 and I cannot, therefore, submit his application to the House.