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UK: John Quaquah to sue Home Office

01 November 2000

On 1 September, Mr Justice Elias overturned a decision by the Home Office which refused the Ghanaian asylum seeker John Quaquah leave to remain in the UK to prepare his case and sue the Home Office and the private security firm Group 4, which runs the detention centre Campsfield House, for malicious prosecution. This is the second time the High Court has rebutted the Home Secretary over the application of the law to Mr Quaquah's situation. Quaquah and eight other West African asylum seekers were acquitted of instigating a riot in Campsfield Immigration Detention Centre near Oxford in August 1997 (see Statewatch vol 8 nos 3 & 4 and vol 9 nos 3 & 4). The case against the "Campsfield Nine" was thrown out of court after video evidence contradicted the claim by Group 4 private security guards that those accused had damaged property and attacked them. After having spent ten months in prison awaiting trial, Quaquah took steps to sue the Home Office and Group 4 for malicious prosecution. He applied for leave to stay, but instead was faced with a deportation order by the Home Office. The order was quashed in judicial review in 1999. The Home Office then continued to prolong proceedings by refusing to make a decision on his case, and again refused to grant leave to stay. The latest High Court decision stated that the Home Office's refusal to grant Quaquah leave was "surprising" and that it needed to give "powerful countervailing reasons" to refuse Mr Quaquah leave to pursue his civil claim for compensation. Suke Wolton from the Campsfield Nine Defence Campaign believes that "the Home Office has a vendetta against the Campsfield Nine and is taking it out on Mr Quaquah". The Home Office "should not be allowed to deport their critics rather than face them in Court", she said.

For more background to the case and information on Campsfield Immigration Detention Centre see www.closecampsfield.org.uk