Latest news with #D8
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Isis-supporting illegal immigrant avoided detention over mental health
An Islamic State-supporting illegal migrant was allowed to leave a detention centre after judges found that being confined was bad for his mental health. The Iranian man, named only as 'D8' in court documents, entered Britain illegally on a small boat in March 2021 and claimed asylum. A 32-year-old Sunni Muslim, he had previously been granted five years' leave to remain as a refugee in March 2017 after crossing the English Channel in the back of a lorry. This was revoked by the Home Office in April 2020 after he visited Iraq, prompting concerns he was a danger to national security. After entering Britain for a second time, D8 was detained in an immigration jail in 2021. However, he was released on bail in June 2022 after a judge found detention had 'caused or aggravated' his depression. In July 2022, the Home Office rejected his asylum application on national security grounds, after asserting he had an 'Islamist mindset' and maintained 'support for Islamic state'. He was allowed to avoid detention on condition that he stayed at one address, did not work and was monitored by an electronic tag. In January this year, the Court of Appeal backed the Government in the battle over his asylum claim, ruling that he supported the Islamic State and was a threat to national security. It revoked his refugee status but concluded he could not be deported to Iran, his home country, as he might face torture. It is the latest case uncovered by The Telegraph of migrants avoiding deportation on human rights grounds. Others include the case of an Albanian criminal allowed to remain after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be 'unduly harsh' on his children. The record number of immigration appeals, which often cite the right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), threatens to hamper the Government's attempts to remove illegal migrants. It has prompted Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to consider restricting migrants from citing their right to a family life to avoid deportation. In the Court of Appeal hearing in January, Justice Males, Justice Phillips and Justice Laing noted that the secretary of state had concluded D8 was a danger to the British public. But they said that he was likely to be interrogated by the Iranian authorities if he were sent back, and criticised the Foreign Office's reasoning – laid out in a report – as 'somewhat blithe' and 'jejune'. They ruled: 'Drawing the threads together, the secretary of state has concluded that D8 is a danger to the national security of the United Kingdom. 'It is inherent in that conclusion, which the secretary of state was entitled to reach, that he represents a real and serious danger.' The judges found, however, that if D8 were returned to Iran 'his life would be put at risk' and he would be exposed to 'a real risk of torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Isis-supporting illegal immigrant avoided detention over mental health
An Islamic State-supporting illegal migrant was allowed to leave a detention centre after judges found that being confined was bad for his mental health. The Iranian man, named only as 'D8' in court documents, entered Britain illegally on a small boat in March 2021 and claimed asylum. A 32-year-old Sunni Muslim, he had previously been granted five years' leave to remain as a refugee in March 2017 after crossing the English Channel in the back of a lorry. This was revoked by the Home Office in April 2020 after he visited Iraq, prompting concerns he was a danger to national security. After entering Britain for a second time, D8 was detained in immigration jail in 2021. However, he was released on bail in June 2022 after a judge found detention had 'caused or aggravated' his depression. In July 2022, the Home Office rejected his asylum application on national security grounds, after asserting he had an 'Islamist mindset' and maintained 'support for Islamic state'. He was allowed to avoid detention on condition that he stayed at one address, did not work and was monitored by an electronic tag. In January this year, the Court of Appeal backed the Government in the battle over his asylum claim, ruling that he supported the Islamic State and was a threat to national security. It revoked his refugee status but concluded he could not be deported to Iran, his home country, as he might face torture. It is the latest case uncovered by The Telegraph of migrants avoiding deportation on human rights grounds. Others include the case of an Albanian criminal allowed to remain after claiming his son had an aversion to foreign chicken nuggets, and a Pakistani paedophile who was jailed for child sex offences but escaped removal from the UK as it would be 'unduly harsh' on his own children. The record number of immigration appeals, which often cite the right to a family life under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), threatens to hamper the Government's attempts to remove illegal migrants. It has prompted Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, to consider restricting migrants from citing their right to a family life to avoid deportation. In the Court of Appeal hearing in January, Justice Males, Justice Phillips and Justice Laing noted that the secretary of state had concluded D8 was a danger to the British public. But they said that he was likely to be interrogated by the Iranian authorities if he were sent back, and criticised the Foreign Office's reasoning – laid out in a report – as 'somewhat blithe' and 'jejune' . They ruled: 'Drawing the threads together, the secretary of state has concluded that D8 is a danger to the national security of the United Kingdom. 'It is inherent in that conclusion, which the secretary of state was entitled to reach, that he represents a real and serious danger.' The judges found, however, that if D8 were returned to Iran 'his life would be put at risk' and he would be exposed to 'a real risk of torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment'.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
First measles death reported in Texas as Kennedy downplays outbreak
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday appeared to downplay the seriousness of the West Texas measles outbreak that has killed a school-age child. The child's death, the first from the disease in a decade in the United States, was confirmed by Katherine Wells, director of public health at the health department in Lubbock, Texas. The child had not been vaccinated against the measles. The outbreak has so far infected at least 124 people — mostly children — in rural West Texas. 'We are following the measles epidemic every day,' Kennedy said during a meeting with President Donald Trump's cabinet at the White House. 'Incidentally, there have been four measles outbreaks this year. In this country last year there were 16. So, it's not unusual. We have measles outbreaks every year.' Kennedy also said that two people had died in the outbreak and that the people hospitalized were done so 'mainly for quarantine.' Wells, Lubbock's public health director, and another spokesperson for the city said that there has been just one measles death in Texas so far. They said they confirmed it with state health authorities after Kennedy's comments on Wednesday. If a second death did exist, the city's spokesperson said, "we'd know about it." HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dr. Lara Johnson, a pediatrician and the chief medical officer at Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock, said in an email earlier that all of the children hospitalized with the measles were admitted because they were having trouble breathing. None of the hospitalized had been vaccinated against measles. Johnson said that her team has cared for 'around 20' kids with measles so far. The Texas Department of State Health Services has reported 18 hospitalizations so far, but number appears to be lagging, she said. The outbreak has been limited so far to parts of Texas bordering New Mexico, which has reported nine measles cases. Health officials in Texas are working to see if the cases are connected. It's unclear how the outbreak originated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Texas Department of State Health Services told NBC News that genotype testing had linked the outbreak to a strain of the measles virus called D8 currently circulating in Europe and the World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean region, which includes countries in North Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia. None of the samples has been linked to the vaccine. The death in Texas is the first measles death to be reported in the U.S. since 2015, when a Washington woman died after an exposure at a health clinic. The last time a child died of measles in the U.S. was 22 years ago, in 2003, according to the CDC. Measles was considered eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, the CDC said, because of widespread use of the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR). Two doses of the shot are 97% effective in preventing the disease, and the vast majority of U.S. kids get them as the CDC recommends: one dose around age 1, and another around age 5. But as vaccine hesitancy has increased over time, fewer kids are getting their shots. The number of children with vaccine exemptions reached an all-time high in 2023, the CDC said, of 3% of children entering kindergarten. In Gaines County, Texas, the epicenter of the current outbreak, the vaccine exemption rate was nearly 18% for the 2023-2024 school year, according to health department data. This article was originally published on
