Deportation thwarted: Pilot refuses to fly Afghan student to Kabul
Campaigners had lobbied the airline and spoken to passengers due to board the same flight from Heathrow Airport to alert them of Bigzads plight. Photo: The Independent
(Web Desk) - Activists across the United Kingdom have vowed to do everything in their power to stop the British Government making fresh efforts to deport a young Afghan asylum seeker after the first attempt failed.
According to The Independent, A 22-year-old Afghan student, Samim Bigzad – whom the Afghan Taliban threatened to behead, was due to be forced back to his country on Saturday but a Turkish Airlines pilot refused to fly with him on board. He was taken back into detention.
Reports claim that the campaigners prior to the planned take off, had lobbied the airline and spoken to passengers due to board the same flight from Heathrow Airport to alert them of Bigzad’s plight.
Chair of the Kent Anti-Racism Network, Bridget Chapman, told The Independent that activists would repeat their efforts in any new attempt to deport him, adding: “We will not let up, we will do everything we can do keep Samim safe.”
It is not the first time deportations have been thwarted by pilots exerting their powers to refuse to transport unwilling asylum seekers, either for humanitarian reasons or over concerns for in-flight security and passenger complaints.
Lisa Matthews, co-ordinator of the Right to Remain group, said fighting deportations buys time for people to launch legal challenges and so, can be a “life-saving measure”.
“It has saved lives and we know people after these interventions who have got the right to remain - so it has worked but it’s only one tool,” she said.
“It’s important to get something done but it’s not the end of the story, because the Home Office will make another attempt. There’s a long history of this kind of activism, not just in the UK but across Europe.”
Matthews also said that many airlines choose to “obey” the Home Office and other concerned authorities.
“The absolute power exerted by pilots under European regulations means that pressure can pay off, she added.
According to the Home Office statistics there were almost 12,500 forced returns in 2016, including 11,000 from detention centres. Another 27,200 people returned to foreign countries voluntarily and 17,600 were refused entry at UK reports and deported.
Samim Bigzad, 22, had been living in Kent. Photo: The Independent
Ali McGinley, director of the Association of Visitors to Immigration Detainees (Avid), said the group was aware of a number of recent failed removals.
“Cases like this aren’t unusual and we see them quite a lot - the longer someone is held for the harder it is to remove them,” he added.
In Bigzad’s case, revealed exclusively by The Independent, he reached the door of the flight due to take him on the first step of his journey to Kabul before the pilot intervened.
“Samim said they were in the tunnel by the door when the pilot came out and said: ‘You’re not going to take him, I’m not flying. Someone’s life is at risk.’
“The guards took him back to Brook House – I really don’t know what will happen next.”
Bigzad remains in detention at the centre near Gatwick as relatives and his solicitor attempt to mount a new case for him to be granted asylum, with more than 3,300 people signing a petition to stop his deportation.
