He's not saying what I said

A man comes in distraught. He is being evicted from his flat, he has a teenage daughter and he is ill, he has visible marks of torture. He rants, "I had a truck and a car burned out for these people. I risked my life transporting white, British people across the border to South Africa so they would be safe, and now I am treated like this."

He talks of his interview with the home office. His English is perfect but according to the rules there must be an interpreter, the interpreter is from his country but a different tribe, they have no real common language although he can understand what the interpreter says. During the interview when the interpreter is speaking to the person from the home office and got it wrong the man spoke up to say no, that's not what I said. But the official said, "I have to take what the interpreter says".

There is another man with us in the office who now starts to speak too. "That happenned with me too. The interpreter they brought spoke one of my languages but was from a country far away so the dialect was completely different and she often didn't understand what I said. They wouldn't let me just talk to them in my English."

What about if you can't go home?

I overhear a conversation in the office.

The man who has just come in is looking for some advice. He is originally from Palestine but was a refugee in Iraq for a time. He claimed asylum in Britain and was refused so he went for voluntary return (whereby people are offerred £3,000 to leave the country). He said, okay, fair enough, I'll go back. But... Iraq wouldm't take him - he's not a citizen there, and he was refused entry to Palestine by Israel ( a relative had once been a member of a Palestinian political organisation) and was put on a flight back to Britain.

So here he is in the office, officially stateless, no right to work, no right to benefit or housing and nowhere to go. He tried to go back! Where to from here?

Bail Hearing

Today I go to court to be surety for a bail hearing. There is a family. A man and a woman and their 11 year old son and their 2 year old daughter. They have been in the UK since 2000. The boy speaks fluent English with a Scottish accent. The man was taken in May last year and put in detention. He was taken to England and put in a centre there. His wife and children remained in Glasgow. After some months he was brought to Dungavel and held there. He had committed no crime for this detention. Today's hearing is not to do with their claim for asylum, it is to ask for bail so that while their asylum claim is being processed the man can live with his wife and children.

I arrive at 10am to the 4th floor of a big office block in Glasgow city centre. I walk in to a busy waiting area and sit with the people I know. The wife of the man in detention, their children and friends. The woman hands me a small box and a card. The box contains jewellery her husband has made while in detention and the card has a message of thanks. I am touched, it is unexpected.

We sit, the lawyer calls me to explain the procedure, we sit some more. There has been a mix-up with ordering the interpreter. One is on her way but will be about an hour and a half, we will have to wait. I go out to a cafe to get breakfast. I come back and we sit. The boy says to me, "It's my birthday soon, I'm going to be 12. I hope my dad will be there for my birthday." His little sister walks around the room making friends with everyone.

Just before 1pm we are called into court. We stand for the judge as he enters to take his seat on the raised platform opposite the man and his interpreter. Completing the square are a home office official onthe left and the man's lawyer on the right. There is a piece of paper missing and it is lunchtime. Court is adjourned until 2pm. We all stand again fro the judge leaving and go back to the waiting area. The home office official is a big burly older man. He comes to speak to the family. The girl is asleep in her pram, "oh, she's beautiful". He talks to the boy, "What school are you at? What's your favourite subject? You work hard now so you do well in school. You know your Dad hasn't done anything wrong, you should know that." A friend of the man says, "You know he has been in detention for 9 months." The Home Office official says defensively, "I can't do anything about that, I'm just doing my job, I'm not making the decision today, we have to see what the judge says."

We go out for a coffee, come back and are called in again. The little girl in the pram gently snores, the interpreter turns to admire her. The judge enters and we all stand again, the judge speaks.

The man is from country A but fled to country B as a teenager, met his wife there and lived there for a long time. When they arrived in the UK as a family they said they were from country B, then later when asked about his birth details he talked of country A. The judge says, "you are untrustworthy, we can not even be sure of your nationality." The home office official speaks briefly. There is a continuous murmur as the interpreter relays it all to the man.

The judge sums up, he notes that the man's wife and children are in Glasgow and that during previous times he has shown no sign of absconding. With his untrustworthiness and only £800 of bail money offerred (borrowed from friends), in a case like this he would expect a lot more, he refuses the application for bail.

The wife goes pale and quiet. We all stand as the judge leaves, she bursts into tears. Her son looks on and walks around her. The guards lead the man away. The home office official comes across. He says, 'oh, that's a shame." Then he turns to the 11 year old boy (nearly 12) and says "you look after your mum now."