UK blocks asylum to Iraqi translators

Last Modified: 12 Dec 2007
By: Lewis Hannam

Native interpreters who risked death and persecution to help British troops in Iraq have been blocked from starting new lives in the UK, new figures reveal.

Of the 200 interpreters who took up an offer to resettle in Britain, 125 have been turned away, statistics unearthed by the Times reveal.

The revelations contradict Gordon Brown's promise to fulfil a "care of duty" to those who have served with British troops.

Channel 4 News reported this summer on how interpreters were being targeted by militias and felt they are being abandoned by the British.

In many cases the interpreters were told by the government they were ineligible because of absenteeism, but they say any disappearances were due to them fleeing for their lives from Shia militia.

One former interpreter told us: "We hoped to stay in Britain, but the embassy has neglected us.

"But we know the British people - that ancient people who have expressed support for humanitarian issues so many times - will stand with us."

The interpreters claim they're being systematically targeted and murdered. The militias, jostling for control of Basra, consider them traitors. Scores have been killed.

In many cases the interpreters were told by the government they were ineligible because of absenteeism, but they say any disappearances were due to them fleeing for their lives from Shia militia.

Lynne Featherstone, a Liberal Democrat MP, told the Times: "If those Iraqis who have helped us are now being told that they can't come here because their absence was regarded as a resignation.

"This is a world gone mad."

Unlike the American government, which has announced plans to resettle 7,000 particularly vulnerable Iraqi refugees, the British government has made no such commitment.