According to the International Federation of Iraqi Refugees, many of the 55 people deported from the UK to the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq on a flight from Luton Airport to Erbil International yesterday were violently abused by armed police when they landed. One detained who gave his name as Soran said: "A lot of police from the Kurdistan Regional Government were waiting for us when we landed in Erbil. They were very rough with us and beat us. We feel hurt and abused. If even the police are doing this, what are our chances to live a good life here?"
In October the Iraqi Government refused to accept some of the people on previous mass deportation flight, the first to fly to Baghdad. An Iraqi government spokesman at the time told Al-Jazeera News that they would not accept forcible deportations, but in the past week the same government has accepted 80 people deported by force to Baghdad from Norway and Sweden. Many will no doubt have been forced to go into hiding upon their return and will stand little or no chance of finding their relatives, who will have been forced to move from their homes by the daily violence. Some will unfortunately also have been victims of that same violence.
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