20 Oct 2006
http://www.torturecare.org.uk/news/latest_news/760
"Asylum seekers who have been convicted of arriving in the UK without a valid passport establishing their identity and nationality can appeal against their sentence following a ruling by the Lord Chief Justice. The ruling means that dozens of asylum seekers who have been convicted under the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants,etc) 2004 have wrongly spent time in prison. Usual sentence for the offence has been between three and 12 months.
To have a defence under the act, asylum seekers had to prove that at no stage of the journey were they in possession of an immigration document. Given that some form of documentation would have been needed to cross borders on the way to the UK or board aircraft, for many this was an impossibility. [NCADC email version]
