Human rights lawyers complain that Britain shouldn’t be sending convicted criminals home to Jamaica after five deported men are murdered in a year
At least five deported men have been murdered in Jamaica since March 2018
The Home Office have been accused of ‘breaching human rights’ over the move
Lawyers call it breach of human rights because their lives could be in danger
Some of the men who have been killed have convictions for drugs and violence
Human rights lawyers say convicted criminals should not be sent back to Jamaica after at least five men deported from Britain were murdered when they returned.
The men, who have convictions for violence and drug related offences, have been killed on the Caribbean island over the past year.
The Home Office has been accused of ‘breaching human rights’ over the deportations, because their lives ‘may be in danger.’
Legal experts say the government is flouting strict rules which bans deportations to countries with a high level of violent crime.
Jamaica currently has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Last year there were 1,287 murders in the country, about 47 per 100,000 population. In the UK there were contrast, there were 726 homicides in the UK – 12 per million of the population.
Owen Clarke was a convicted drug dealer. He was shot dead +3
Alphonso Harriott was murdered in March +3
Owen Clarke (left) a convicted drug dealer and Alphonso Harriott, right, who was murdered in March
The Guardian reports that they have ‘verified’ the deaths of five men and have been told of other returnees who also fear for their lives.
Naga Kandiah, a public law solicitor at MTC & Co which deals with many Jamaican deportation cases said the government’s human rights obligations were not dependent on past behaviour.
He told The Guardian: ‘The Home Office’s own guidance recognises the high level of crime there due to organised gangs.
‘Nobody is saying that these men had not committed crimes, but it is a clear breach of human rights legislation to send them back to a country where their life could be in serious danger.’
Jamaica currently has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Pictured: Armed police on the streets in Kingston, the country’s capital +3
Jamaica currently has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Pictured: Armed police on the streets in Kingston, the country’s capital
Gracie Bradley, the policy and campaigns manager at the human rights organisation Liberty, told the newspaper: ‘It is incredibly disturbing that the government continues to pursue deportations at the expense of its human rights obligations.
‘These worrying incidents further highlight why the practice of deportation post-conviction is a discriminatory form of double punishment that should be scrapped.’
A spokeswoman for the End Deportations campaign group told The Guardian: ‘These deportations must be stopped immediately before more lives are lost.’
The claims could increase pressure on the government to justify why they resumed deportation flights to Jamaica in February.
They were suspended at the height of the Windrush scandal, when thousands who had arrived in the UK from the Caribbean as part of the ‘Windrush generation’ were told they were here illegally, despite having lived and worked here for decades.
The men identified by the Guardian include Owen Clarke, 62, who was shot and killed by armed men on 23 February.
He had been convicted of dealing drugs in Britain and was said to be the leader of the British Link-Up Crew, a dancehall events business in the UK and Jamaica, which was allegedly a front for drug smuggling.
Dewayne Robinson, 37, known as Little Wicked, was murdered on 4 March 2018 and Alphonso Harriott, 56, reportedly part of the same crew as Clarke, was murdered on 29 March.
Paul Mitchell, 50, was fatally stabbed on 31 December and Hugh Bennett, 48, a shopkeeper, was stabbed to death on 31 December.
The Home Office said in a report last year that Jamaica constabulary force is ‘underpaid, poorly trained, understaffed and lacking in resources’.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We only return those with no legal right to remain in the UK, including foreign national offenders. Individuals are only returned to their country of origin when the Home Office and courts deem it is safe to do so.
‘Should the Home Office receive any specific allegations that a returnee has experienced ill-treatment on return to their country of origin, these would be investigated in partnership with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.’
So wa we fe duh bout dat..dem know the game dem inna long time. You think say a some random murders these. There are consequences for your actions..unnu a gwaan like dem ya ole grazmite a role model citizen..dem reap wa dem sow. Me no sorry fe dem. A karma jus a reach dem doorstep..
some cases of deportation like a simple visa overstay etc, is undertandable and unfortunate, though not advocating the violation or encouraging, any security situation should be taken into consideration regarding the person’s country of origin, however, the convicted felons, opportunist criminals, violence enablers should be spared no sympathy, it cannot be the case where people emigrate to other people’s country with their demeaning, degrading, devaluing sub cultured ways, habits and traits, and with the machismo personna, commit crimes and when comes the time to face the music, lawyers, human rights advocacy groups etc. Protrays them as victims, picture a scenario where people migrate to another country with a preconceived mindset that they wouldn’t get deported for committing crimes due humanitarian reasons, especially us jamaicans with our “take for granted” mentality, you would have a situation where countries would STOP giving jamaicans the privilege to migrate and settle in their countries and that would affect the people with good intent! so human rights advocacy is essential in these countries, especially at this moment where immigration is a hot button issue around the world, but not for those rif-rafs :thumbup
Are the human rights group claiming that had these men stayed in the UK there would be alive today? Maybe they live longer being deported, since some of these men left bitter enemies back in the UK, some of whom are unable to travel back to Jamaica neutralized their enemies.