Migrant who helped block Rwanda deportation flight is allowed to claim asylum in Britain

An Iraqi migrant who played a key role in blocking the Rwanda deportation scheme has been granted access to the UK asylum system.

The individual, referred to as NSK in court papers, was originally set to be one of seven migrants on the first deportation flight to Rwanda in June 2022.

NSK’s legal challenge led to an interim injunction from the European Court of Human Rights, which led to the flight being cancelled.

The Strasbourg court has just published a document that revealed that the migrant has withdrawn his legal case against the Government because he has been “afforded access to the United Kingdom asylum system”.

His asylum claim is based on his work as a security guard with British and American soldiers at a prison in Tikrit, Iraq, in 2004.

The migrant, now in his late 30s, alleges he faced threats and violence after reporting a personal incident to the police. He told officers that he came home one day to find his wife in bed with another man, who then chased him down and shot at him.

He said that this man was the bodyguard for his brother-in-law, the head of intelligence for a Kurdish political party.

After reporting the incident to the police, he was kidnapped and attacked by his brother-in-law, suffering from wounds to his hands which left him unable to write.

He crossed the Channel in a small boat, arriving in Kent in May 2022.

Initially deemed inadmissible for asylum, NSK has now been afforded access to the UK system following a government policy overhaul.

When he first arrived, he received a letter telling him that the Home Office would be deporting him to Rwanda. He claimed that he was a victim of torture and trafficking in his appeal.

Just eight days before his flight to Kigali was due to take off, he received a letter that told him he was “inadmissible” to the UK asylum system because he could have “enjoyed protection in a safe third country and there had been no exceptional circumstances that prevented him from making an asylum claim before arriving in the United Kingdom”.

Whilst his flight on June 14 was ultimately cancelled, the threat of deportation continued to loom. NSK was understood to be one of the 5,000 individuals who would be placed on a flight to Kigali this summer.

More to follow…