HC Deb 01 March 2000 vol 345 cc289-91W
Gillian Merron

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his considerations of the claims for political asylum made by some passengers on the aeroplane recently hijacked to Stansted airport. [112937]

Mr. Straw

Of the total 170 people on the aircraft, 73 returned voluntarily to Afghanistan on 14 February. Four members of the flight crew are due to return with the aircraft when necessary clearances have been given. Two passengers have also asked to return to Afghanistan. Arrangements are being made for them to do so. 14 individuals are the subject of criminal charges in relation to the hijacking. This leaves 44 passengers who have made a claim for asylum under the 1951 Geneva Convention together with some 33 dependants.

I have postponed a decision in six claims made by the relatives of those charged because I have been advised that the effect of considering their claims could prejudice the trials of the hijackers. I have postponed a decision in two cases in which I am expecting further information from the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture and a further six cases in which further inquiries need to be made.

I have personally considered each of the remaining claims, including the representations made by the legal advisers representing each applicant. I have also taken into account advice I have received from Counsel and the Home Office Afghanistan country assessment. I have now reached my decisions. I have decided to grant refugee status in two cases, because I am satisfied that their applications disclose a well-grounded fear of persecution on a ground set out in the 1951 Convention. In both cases, as it happens, the applicant's case for asylum arose before they had boarded the flight, and it was a matter of chance for them that it was hijacked. Indefinite leave to enter will be granted to the wife of one of these applicants as his dependant, although she had claimed asylum in her own right. The claimants in these cases have five children who will also be given indefinite leave to enter. I have rejected the claims in the remaining 27 cases on the grounds that I am not satisfied that they have a well-founded fear of persecution by reason of their race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

In considering each of these claims, I have taken proper account of the United Kingdom's obligations under the 1951 Convention. I have taken account of all necessary legal requirements. These requirements are such that it would have been improper in the cases I have considered for me to take into account at that stage other factors, such as the need to deter future hijackers, and I have not done so. However, in determining the future status of those whose claims I have rejected, I have a different duty, to take into account all relevant information including public interest points in deterring future hijackings.

In these cases, I have decided that the public interest in deterring future hijacks for the purposes of claiming asylum is a very strong one and, therefore, I have decided that they should not be given permission to stay in this country. Accordingly, I have given instructions that they should not be granted Exceptional Leave to Enter, which would give them this permission. We are ready to make arrangements for them to return to Afghanistan voluntarily. Given the current situation in Afghanistan, it is not proposed immediately to set directions for their enforced removal to Afghanistan. Instead, we are continuing to explore the possibility of removing these individuals to other countries. In the meantime they will be offered bail conditions to be set by a Chief Immigration Officer involving a recognisance, restrictions on their address, and conditions for regular reporting to the Immigration Service. Arrangements for accommodation will be made centrally and the cost will not be borne by local authorities. For the time being we will continue to detain those on whom no decision has been made.

The events surrounding this terrorist act of hijacking have shown serious weaknesses in the way in which international conventions relating to refugees, terrorism and human rights operate. We shall be raising our concerns with like-minded countries and with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.