Immigration Solicitors

The Church of England (CofE) is calling on the government to grant asylum to Iraqi Christian fleeing persecution in northern Iraq.

The Guardian reports that Anglican bishops are becoming frustrated at the UK government’s failure to offer asylum to Christian fleeing jihad in Iraq. The Church of England says that ignoring the plight of thousands of Iraqi Christians facing violence in northern Iraq would constitute a “betrayal of Britain's moral and historical obligations”.

Iraqi Christians have recently had to flee the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, after Isis (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) fighters threatened them with a religious tax which many were unable to pay, as well as execution – or forced conversion to Islam.

France has already agreed to grant asylum to Christians forced to flee Mosul, but Anglican clerics say that as the UK was actively involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, it has an even greater responsibility to offer sanctuary to Christians being persecuted in Iraq.

It is now acknowledged that the 2003 allied invasion of Iraq and the toppling of Saddam Hussein under the New Labour government resulted in the destabilisation of the country and the rise of jihadists and sectarian violence.

The killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby, Michael Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo, said at the time of the killing in May 2013 that they considered a British soldier a fair target for slaughter because of Britain’s foreign policy and the killing of Moslems in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Bishop of Manchester the Right Rev David Walker told The Observer:

“We would be failing to fulfil our obligations were we not to offer sanctuary.

“Having intervened so recently and extensively in Iraq, we have – even more than other countries – a moral duty in the UK.

“Given the vast amounts of money that we spent on the war in Iraq, the tiny cost of bringing some people fleeing for their lives to this country and allowing them to settle – and who, in due course, would be an asset to our society – would seem to be minuscule.”

Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq – on the pretext that chemical weapons were being manufactured there – around one million Christians lived in the country.

It is thought around 750,000 have left after the upsurge in attacks by militant jihadists and sectarian clashes.

Mosul’s Christians had been reduced from 60,000 to 35,000 after the violence began – and last month, the remaining Christians of what is one of the world’s oldest Christian communities finally fled the city. It is thought they may have found shelter in areas controlled by Kurdish peshmerga fighters, but are still facing an uncertain future as Isis advances to seize more territories.

Duncan Lewis Immigration Solicitors

Duncan Lewis is a leading firm of UK immigration solicitors and one of the UK’s largest providers of Legal Aid services.

Our immigration lawyers are highly specialised and can advise those fleeing persecution in their own country on asylum in the UK, as well as asylum appeals.

Duncan Lewis immigration lawyers can also advise migrants from the EU and asylum seekers from outside the EU on their right to work in the UK.

For expert legal advice on immigration and asylum in the UK, contact Duncan Lewis immigration solicitors on 020 7923 4020.

For urgent legal advice on immigration and asylum in Britain – including illegal entry to the UK and detention or deportation – call the Duncan Lewis Emergency Hotline on 020 7275 2036, where an immigration lawyer is available to advise 24/7.