Agnes’ petition: Priti Patel’s detention policies found to breach human rights rules

26 April 2021: Agnes’ petition: Stop the new detention centre for women

My name is Agnes. I am a refugee, I am a woman, I am a human being. The Home Office has started building a new immigration detention centre at Hassockfield in County Durham to lock up women like me. Please join me in taking action to stop them.

Please join me in taking a stand against this detention centre.

If you want to know more and get involved in this campaign in other ways please visit: www.refugeewomen.co.uk/campaign/setherfree 

Read more and sign here: https://www.change.org/p/the-home-secretary-stop-the-new-detention-centre-for-women



14 April 2021: The Guardian: Priti Patel’s detention policies found to breach human rights rules

Court finds home secretary accountable for failures to ensure that deaths in immigration detention centres are investigated properly

A landmark court ruling has held the home secretary, Priti Patel, accountable for failures in ensuring that deaths in immigration detention centres are properly investigated.

Two judges in the immigration court ruled on Wednesday that three of the home secretary’s detention policies breached human rights rules and that she could not frustrate or undermine inquiries into these deaths.

The ruling relates to two friends, Ahmed Lawal and Oscar Lucky Okwurime, both from Nigeria, who were in Harmondsworth immigration removal centre when Okwurime was found dead in his cell there on 12 September 2019.

Lawal proved to be a key witness, but the Home Office tried to deport him five days after the death before he could provide any evidence. He took the case to the high court and a judge halted his removal.


The Times: Priti Patel undermined investigation of a death at an immigration detention centre, court rules

Priti Patel undermined and frustrated an investigation of a death at an immigration detention centre, a court has ruled in a landmark decision.

An immigration judge said yesterday that the home secretary was under “a legal requirement to assist the coronial inquest by identifying and securing evidence from potential witnesses” in the case of deaths in detention.

Read more here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/patel-broke-law-over-death-of-detainee-v3792p9zx