Afghan family deported

The deportation of an Afghan family began today after an 11th–hour legal bid to prevent it ended in failure.

Farid Ahmadi, his wife Feriba, and their children Hadia, six, and Seear, four, were taken from a detention centre this morning to be flown out of the country.

The Home Office, fearing protests by supporters, refused to confirm they had been moved from the centre at Harmondsworth, near Heathrow Airport, west of London.

But supporters and police officers at the centre said they had been taken out in two vans at 7.30am.

It was believed they were being flown back to Germany – where they made their initial asylum application – by private charter jet from Birmingham Airport.

The family's lawyer said their deportation represented a tough new stance by the Government on asylum seekers and urged David Blunkett to exercise more compassion.

Pierre Makhlouf said the result was "a bitter disappointment".

Mr Makhlouf added: "It is sad that in a case that has so much strength and the Home Office accepts the harm that would be caused to Mrs Ahmadi by being removed, but have still decided to take the action."

The solicitor said that the Government has exploited the introduction of the Human Rights Act to enable it to take a tougher stance with immigrants seeking asylum on compassionate grounds by arguing that it is not violating basic human rights, the Government has been able to get away with treatment of asylum seekers' cases in the courts.

Mr Makhlouf said there were compelling circumstances in the case of the Ahmadi family, with Feriba having suffered post traumatic stress after a missile struck her home in Afghanistan, killed family members and watching her husband be tortured.

She has found comfort from the network of friends and family in the UK whereas in Germany where they first applied for asylum she suffered feelings of isolation.

The Government accepted that Mrs Ahmadi would suffer physiological harm if she was deported, Mr Makhlouf said.

He added: "In future we're going to have increasing difficulty helping people with compassionate circumstances such as this family.

"Very high standards now have to be met for us to be able to argue the case is sufficiently compatible.

"David Blunkett needs to be more compassionate. It is a grave situation when politics overrides the social aspects of a case."