Government wins Oakington appeal

The government has won its appeal against a
high court decision that ruled the detention of four asylum seekers
at its Oakington Immigration Centre in Cambridgeshire was
illegal.

The original legal ruling by Mr Justice
Collins had threatened to derail the government’s fast-track
immigration policy and open the way for compensation claims costing
millions of pounds for the illegal detention by asylum seekers.

The court of appeal’s decision to overturn the
ruling means the government’s policy to use such centres to house
asylum seekers whose claims are undecided can now go ahead.

Lawyers for the four Iraqi Kurds who brought
the action against the centre were granted permission to take the
case to the House of Lords.