§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the cost to date to public funds of the hijacking of the Ariana Airlines aircraft. [109819]
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy not to entertain asylum applications from the hijackers of the Ariana Airlines aircraft; and if he will make a statement on the status of applications for asylum by hijackers who arrived in the UK during the last five years. [109818]
§ Mr. StrawThe United Kingdom is bound to entertain asylum applications made here under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a legally binding international agreement. However, we also have the clearest possible obligations in respect of the prevention and deterrence of hijacking and other international terrorism. We condemn all hijackings unequivocally. The United Nations Convention provides that those convicted of or suspected of being involved in certain criminal acts shall be exempt from its provisions.
Asylum applications made by the Iraqi hijackers of the Sudanese Airbus in August 1996 remain under consideration.