Afghan Illegal Suing over "Stress" of Detention

This is another story which sounds as if someone made it up.

An illegal immigrant from Afghanistan who entered on a false passport in 1999 is suing the Home Office under an obscure legal technicality and criticising the British system to all who will listen - despite the fact he's already been here ten years and they haven't even made a final decision as to whether or not he can stay yet.

He has spent that time using every legal option available to him, all at our expense.

Meanwhile, he has a British girlfriend (who he isn't using for a visa, obviously), a car and neighbours who say he looks like he has a fair bit of cash - nice to know someone does, I suppose. During that ten year period, he has spent three weeks in detention - and claims that left him depressed.

He now wants £150,000 in compensation.

From The Daily Mail:

A failed asylum seeker who entered the country using a fake passport is suing the Government for £150,000 claiming his detention caused him depression.

Fridoon Sadiqi says he started having mental health problems, including post traumatic stress disorder, after he was held for three weeks while his case was investigated.

Using false documents, he entered the country from Afghanistan in 1999, but later claimed he was fleeing persecution from the then ruling Taliban regime.#

He argues that a civil service re-prioritising scheme in January 2001 had the effect of 'putting on hold' old applications and he was forced to wait five years to hear whether he could stay in the UK.

Sadiqi was eventually told his asylum application had been refused after he was interviewed by immigration officers in March 2004.

In June 2004 an appeal was dismissed by an adjudicator who deemed he was no longer at risk even though he accepted that he had been persecuted by the Taliban.

He applied for discretionary leave to remain in the UK in October that year, but permission to appeal was refused by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal a month later.

Sadiqi was held at an immigration detention centre for three weeks while a further appeal was being held. When released he had to regularly report to a police station to confirm his whereabouts.

The Home Office rejected his application for leave to remain in November 2005, stating that he could apply for clearance once back in Afghanistan .

Since then he has remained in the UK while seeking a judicial review to remain in the country.

Sadiqi, who lives in a flat above a Chinese restaurant Canley, Coventry, started legal proceedings against the Government claiming they breached his human rights and damaged his health.

A High Court writ was issued against the Home Secretary Alan Johnson at the end of June.

He claims he has had the help of his British girlfriend, who he met in London in 2002, and says he intends to eventually marry her.

Sadiqi says he first refused to mention the woman to immigration officials because he didn't want people to think he was using her to get a visa.

He arrived at his home yesterday in a blue hatchback car before getting out clutching a bundle of official documents.

He said: ’I have nothing to say. The matter is out of my hands now and I do not wish to comment.’

A neighbour added: ‘I know him to say a quick hello to. I don’t have any idea what he does for a living but he is quite flash. He is always talking into his mobile phone and arrives home at all hours.

‘He is always very well turned out and considering the neighbourhood looks like he has plenty of money.’

Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe said: 'This means that we've allowed him to remain in the country for 10 years and go through every legal challenge possible.

'Frankly I think we deserve a gold star and he should publicly thank us for our stance rather than sue us.

'If his treatment has been so bad here, then why doesn't he find another country to go claim asylum in?'

The UK Border Agency dismissed Sadiqi’s claim of being detained as 'ridiculous'.

A spokesman said: 'We do not detain people lightly. Detention is a last resort but plays a vital role in maintaining effective immigration control.

'When people are detained they are given a letter explaining in full the reasons for detention.

'All detainees are treated with dignity and compassion and any report or allegation of inappropriate treatment against detainees is taken seriously.'