Closing down on compassion (1)
01 January 1991
Closing down on compassion
artdoc July=1994
A Colombian youth who was tortured and threatened with death by
drug cartels is to be deported despite a plea by Immigration
Appeal Tribunal to the minister. 19-year-old Harold Martinez has
been detained in Feltham Young Offenders' Institute for the past
16 months, since claiming asylum. He came to Britain with his
parents after the family's refusal to sell drugs from his
father's hot dog van in Cali led to the van being blown up and
Harold's being abducted and set on fire. His lawyers are to
challenge the proposed deportation on the ground that it exposes
Harold to a serious risk of death or torture and that Home Office
Minister Charles Wardle's decision is illegal. Guardian 22.4.94.
Statewatch, vol 4 no 3, May-June 1994