Thread by @AlfDubs

Illegal detention of migrants, a thread: Today’s High Court Ruling confirms it was illegal & irrational for the govt to detain refugees in prison-like conditions in #NapierBarracks. It was also inhumane and, at a time of pandemic, dangerous.
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…
1/10

The findings of the Judicial Review were damning. The Court found Priti Patel ignored Public Health England advice making it “virtually inevitable that large numbers of residents would contract Covid, a disease capable of causing hospitalisation, long-term harm or death” 2/10

At least 200 people contracted Covid at Napier, with the associated risk for local residents and #NHS staff. The Court also found that Patel ignored fire safety advice. And the court found that detaining asylum seekers in detention-like camps breached their human rights 3/10

I raised all of this in early February and was slapped down by the government politicshome.com/thehouse/artic…. 4/10
@realbritainros

What worries me is that increasingly the Home Office is making bad decisions and it is only thanks to the courts that the human rights of vulnerable people are safeguarded against hostile exploitation, including by the government itself 5/10

And yet, when the courts step in to protect #HumanRights, the government complains about what it describes as 'unelected courts' 'overruling democracy'. Of course the courts wouldn’t need to get involved if the govt was working within the law, as it should. 6/10

Meanwhile, the government’s aim is to make Judicial Reviews more difficult, including restricting the right of NGOs to bring them.
Wonder why?
@safepassageuk
@Care4Calais
@FreefromTorture
7/10

Evidence informing today’s judgement came from NGOs who, in the words of one of the barristers, “provided a lifeline and critical support to residents at Napier Barracks, ensuring they were able to access levels of support the HO had unlawfully failed to provide them” 8/10

There have been a number of prominent and successful JRs brought against the government recently, including by NGOs. The government’s response is to seek to limit access to the courts rather than to put its own house in order and make lawful decisions. 9/10
@mrjamesob

Despite today’s decision the barracks are still being used. The Home Secretary must now do the right thing and close them. And there should be no further attempts to undermine our judicial system. As today showed, JRs are an essential safeguard against poor govt decisions. 10/10