Five Gurkha Test Cases Rejected - or Are They?

I've avoided wading into this row so far, but I can remain silent no longer.

It has just been reported that five test cases involving Gurkhas, soldiers recruited from Nepal who serve in the British Army, have been concluded - all five have had their applications to stay in the United Kingdom rejected.

Actress Joanna Lumley, the self-appointed spokeswoman for their cause, then cornered Immigration Minister Phil Woolas and marched him over to a press conference, where it emerged that Downing Street and the Home Office have had almost no contact on this issue, despite Gordon Brown promising her yesterday that policy would be reviewed.

Woolas insisted that the Gurkhas got their rejection letters by mistake - but he didn't say they definitely won't be thrown out, only that the Government may deliberate slightly harder and that the decision was an 'interim' one.

Two of the men were veterans of the Falklands War. Another was a veteran of the first Gulf War, a fourth the widow of a veteran. All of them are also of outstanding character.

Now, I accept that when they signed up to serve this country, settling here was not part of the contract. But considering the sort of people we let settle here for no good reason at all, and the volume of them, I see no reason why the Government can't accommodate the Gurkhas.

Well, no good reason. Of course, the Gurkhas are generally honest people who have honour, and that is a black mark against them from the start; we prefer lies and sob stories.

Having a tendency for violent criminality is not obligatory, but it is encouraged; after all, committing a crime will allow an immigrant (hell, even a potential immigrant) to take full advantage of the wide range of benefits the British system has to offer.

Here's a description of the Gurkhas, who have served with our forces in pretty much every modern conflict:

THE GURKHA SOLDIER
Bravest of the brave,
most generous of the generous,
never had country
more faithful friends
than you.
- Professor Sir Ralph Turner MC

But the modern British seem to prefer enemies to friends everytime.

There are probably some who imagine I'm joking, and Lord, I wish I were; but I'm not. Let's forget about the Gurkhas for just a moment and examine some cases where people have been allowed to stay in this country.

The one which immediately springs to mind is that of Mohammed Kendeh (pictured below), who arrived in Britain from Sierra Leone at the age of six.

He first went to prison at the age of fifteen after committing a string of offences including robbery, burglary, arson and drug dealing.

He then graduated on to sexual assault. By 2005, he had been put on the sex offenders' register and jailed after two sex attacks committed just a week after he was released from prison for burglary.

In prison, he confessed to eleven sexual assaults, mainly on lone young women in parks. The Secretary of State recognised that in light of his high risk of re-offending and the serious nature of his crimes, he should be deported.

He appealed once and the Government won. He appealed again, and then-chair of the Special Immigration Tribunal Sir Henry Hodge ruled the following:

"It would not be right to deport. Although the appellant has been denied British citizenship, he is in many ways 'one of us'. He came here at such a young age that it would be wrong, in my judgement, to treat him as though he had an affiliation to any other country."

One of us.

His victims complained bitterly - this happened in October 2007, just weeks after Gordon Brown promised a tougher line on deporting foreign criminals, and not long after a Home Secretary resigned because over 1,000 foreign criminals had been mistakenly released rather than deported.

It made no difference, however - his rights trumped those of the rest of us.


In August 2007, a remarkably similar thing had happened. An Italian citizen, Learco Chindamo, stabbed Headmaster Phillip Lawrence to death in 1995 as the latter protected one of his pupils outside the gates of his own school. He was just fifteen himself. Sentenced to a minimum of twelve years, Chindamo got out in 2008. The Home Office wished to deport him, but was blocked by Human Rights legislation.

There are many more of these cases; Ahsan Sabri, a Pakistani illegal who was driving without insurance or a licence when he killed a young writer by ploughing into her at 60mph; Caliph Ali Asmar who was not deported after being jailed for plunging a knife into a love rival's chest, then went on to rape a young woman; hate preachers such as Abu Qatada, who win appeal after appeal at the taxpayers' expense.

Brown could have appeared gracious and receptive to public opinion by simply granting Gurkha veterans residency; he could have appeared a good sport by doing it after being defeated in the Commons.

As it stands, and as I hope I have demonstrated, a country can be saddled with much worse than those willing to die for it.

Phil Woolas, however, has admitted that he 'has to consider the nice and the nasty people using the same criteria'.

The only criteria which should matter is whether or not this country and those who have served her benefit or not.