§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Further to the Written Answer by the Lord Williams of Mostyn on 26 November 1997 (WA 121), whether they can now give a date by which they will consider the asylum applications of Sayed Haider H. A. Hasan, Hamza A. J. Kadem and Sheikh Ali S. A. Salman, citizens of Bahrain, who applied for asylum on their arrival in the United Kingdom on 17 January 1995, after being imprisoned without charge or trial since early December 1994, and then expelled from their country by the authorities: and why these cases have so far taken more than three times the average time to resolve. [HL755]
§ Lord Williams of MostynIt is not possible to give such a date. However we do expect to be in a position to resolve these applications by the summer. Current delays in dealing with applications are the result of the large backlog of cases in the Asylum Directorate and it is inevitable that some cases will take significantly longer than the average.