UK councilor calls for safe passage, more empathy for refugees arriving in Britain

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Updated 19 December 2021
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UK councilor calls for safe passage, more empathy for refugees arriving in Britain

  • Rights groups say new British legislation will create significant obstacles and harms to people seeking asylum in Britain
  • Penny Appeal is working closely with a number of councils across the country to provide refugees with support once they arrive in the UK

LONDON: The British government has made a number of legislative changes to tackle illegal immigration that many rights organizations are significantly concerned about, said a UK politician.
“Sadly, there are real concerns around the process of seeking asylum, and that is why from a humanitarian perspective, we are really trying to call upon the government to do more to encourage safe passage so people don’t need to worry about whether they will be granted refugee status or not. If there’s a genuine need for why they have come here, they just need to be supported,” Ahmad Bostan, Labour councilor for Abbey, told Arab News.
“How they came here, why they came here, has less relevance than that the fact that they are here now. The question must be: What can we do to help and support them?”




A member of the UK Border Force (R) helps child migrants on a beach in Dungeness, on the south-east coast of England, on Nov. 24, 2021 after being rescued while crossing the English Channel. (AFP)

Ministers say the Nationality and Borders Bill, which was passed in the House of Commons last week and is set to be debated in the House of Lords next month, aims to alleviate the beleaguered asylum system and make it fairer and more effective to better protect refugees, deter illegal entry, break human smuggling gangs, and remove those who do not have the right to be in the UK.
It comes as refugee and migrant crossings have witnessed a dramatic rise in recent weeks, with more than 1,000 people arriving in small boats in a single day in November for the first time, and over 25,000 arriving via the Dover Strait so far this year, many escaping from war-torn areas such as Syria and Iraq. Last month also saw the deadliest crossing on record, with at least 27 people dying in a mass drowning as they attempted to cross the world’s busiest shipping lane.
“I think a key concern for all of us at the moment is people not understanding refugees, not understanding their plight, who they are, where they are from, why they have made these journeys, and really getting people to reflect on that. When I talk about people, I’m also talking about policymakers across the political spectrum, because there has to be a realization,” he said.




Demonstrators take part in a march calling for the British parliament to welcome refugees in the UK in central London. (File/AFP)

Bostan, who is also a cabinet member for the environment, admitted that seeking asylum in Britain is a very difficult process and everyone’s journey is different, but there is currently a grave concern around providing safe passages and whether migrants will be granted refugee status in the UK.
“No one chooses to be a refugee or to be in an environment where they are subjected to persecution and poverty in the first place. What we are really calling for is a greater level of empathy with refugees who are suffering, recognizing they are the victims of poverty and circumstance, and we shouldn’t be putting a stigma on them and almost criminalizing what they are doing,” he said. “If anything, we should do whatever we can, whether it’s governments or individuals at large, to help them.”
Human rights organization Amnesty International said the legislation “will create significant obstacles and harms to people seeking asylum in the UK’s asylum system,” and will allow smugglers to thrive, make the journey even more dangerous, penalize refugees, undermine their protection, and oppose the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention.
In October, leading immigration lawyers released a report commissioned by the human rights group Freedom From Torture, saying Home Secretary Priti Patel’s controversial bill breaches international and domestic law in at least 10 different ways.




Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel makes a Statement on the ‘Small boats incident in the Channel’, in the House of Commons in London on Nov. 25, 2021. (UK Parliament/AFP)

“We’re seeing many children on their own coming here, on very flimsy boats, in very difficult conditions, and you think no mother or father would want to send their children in that way unless their lives were really desperate, unless it was literally a life and death situation,” Bostan said.
He added there have been a number of great initiatives across Europe, including in Britain, where companies and governments have made concerted efforts to look after and invest in refugees and put them in training and development programs, whereby they have then been able to give back to society and pay taxes. “We really want to promote that, as well as to say that refugees are not here to be a burden on society. They want to give back, they want to get involved, but it’s our role to give them that compassion and faith in them to start that process when they arrive in our country, in our city, in our town.”
UK-based charity Penny Appeal has launched its annual Winter Emergency campaign, with a hard-hitting social media video “to remind people of the harsh realities” of those “who are risking their lives crossing the English Channel to plead for asylum in the UK,” it said in a statement.


The video, which carries a graphic content warning and is difficult to watch, shows a mother in significant distress after discovering her daughter had fallen out of her baby sling as she arrived on the British shore.
Bostan, who is also communications director at the international Muslim charity, said “the video shows a heartbreaking reality for so many refugees fleeing persecution, fleeing very difficult conditions around the world.”
“What we’re really trying to show is that every single one of us has a responsibility to that child, every single one of us has a responsibility to that mother. They shouldn’t be subjected to such difficult conditions. Safe passage should be guaranteed for everyone,” he said.




A migrant child holds a teddy bear whilst leaving UK Border Force vessel BF Hurricane after being picked up at sea on arrival at the Marina in Dover, southeast England, on Dec. 16, 2021. (AFP)

Penny Appeal’s “Tis The Season but not for everyone!” campaign aims to reflect on the huge emphasis British Muslims and the Islamic faith has on giving back to society, helping those in need, and serving those less fortunate, Bostan said.
Bostan said that there will be thousands of families still making the treacherous journeys across rough seas, risking everything to find a better life for their families, and “that will be the sad reality on Christmas Day — it’s not a time of celebration for everyone.”
“What we are really calling for is for compassion and empathy to prevail here, and we’re really hopeful that our work and our campaign do raise awareness and encourage policymakers, people with power and influence, to do more for refugees, rather than marginalizing them in any way,” Bostan added.


Harvard sues Trump over block on foreign students

Updated 57 min 56 sec ago
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Harvard sues Trump over block on foreign students

  • “It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights,” said the lawsuit

NEW YORK: Harvard sued the Trump administration on Friday over its move to block the prestigious university from enrolling and hosting foreign students in a broadening dispute, a court filing showed.


“It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” said the lawsuit filed in Massachusetts federal court.


Greek court charges 17 coast guard officers over 2023 migrant shipwreck, say sources

Updated 23 May 2025
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Greek court charges 17 coast guard officers over 2023 migrant shipwreck, say sources

  • The 17 coast guard officers would be summoned by a judge to respond to accusations
  • A Greek coast guard official said the service had not been officially informed about the charges

ATHENS: A Greek naval court has charged 17 coast guard officers over one of the Mediterranean’s worst shipwrecks two years ago, in which hundreds of people are believed to have drowned, three sources said on Friday.

The shipwreck of an overloaded migrant boat in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos on June 14, 2023, sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond. The naval court is still investigating the circumstances around the incident.

A coast guard vessel had been monitoring the boat, named Adriana, for 15 hours before it capsized and sank. It had left Libya for Italy with about 750 people on board. Only 104 of them are known to have survived.

Greek coast guard authorities have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing over the handling of the case.

Three legal sources said the 17 coast guard officers would be summoned by a judge to respond to accusations ranging from obstructing transport to causing or helping cause a shipwreck.

Contacted by Reuters, a Greek coast guard official said the service had not been officially informed about the charges and had asked to be briefed by the naval court.

Greece’s judicial system has several preparatory stages and the compilation of charges does not necessarily mean that an individual will face trial.

Human rights activists and other protesters plan rallies across Greece on June 21 to mark the second anniversary of the Pylos shipwreck.

In February, the Greek Ombudsman recommended disciplinary action against eight coast guard officers, the first national probe into the incident to conclude.

Greece says that the coast guard operates with respect to human rights and that it has rescued more than 250,000 people since 2015, when the country was at the frontline of Europe’s migration crisis.


Trump announces Kyiv-Moscow mass prisoner swap

Updated 23 May 2025
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Trump announces Kyiv-Moscow mass prisoner swap

  • Kyiv and Moscow are due to swap 1,000 people each in a deal agreed at talks in Istanbul
  • Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the swap had been “completed,” but an official said the exchange was ongoing

KYIV: US President Donald Trump announced on Friday a “major” prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, which would be the largest in three years of war.

Kyiv and Moscow are due to swap 1,000 people each in a deal agreed at talks in Istanbul last week, but a senior official with knowledge of the matter said the exchange had not yet happened.

Trump’s efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have thus far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.

The warring countries have held regular exchanges since Russia launched its 2022 invasion — but none have been of this scale.

Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the swap had been “completed,” but an official said the exchange — usually kept secret until it is finished and taking several hours — was ongoing.

“The process is ongoing and the exchange itself has not yet taken place,” the senior official with knowledge of the matter told AFP.

Trump also said: “This could lead to something big???“

After 39 months of fighting, thousands of POWs are held in both countries.

Russia is believed to have the larger share, with the number of Ukrainian captives held by Moscow estimated to be between 8,000 and 10,000.

Kyiv and Moscow have both accused each other of violating the Geneva Convention on the treatment of POWs, with the UN saying prisoners on both sides have been “subjected to torture and ill-treatment.”

Russia regularly violates international norms by putting POWs on trial — with allegations of torture widespread and several Ukrainian captives confirmed to have died in custody.

Moscow’s forces are also believed to have taken an unknown number of Ukrainian civilians into Russia in three years of seizing Ukrainian towns and cities.

There have been several high-profile cases of Ukrainian civilian captives.

Moscow this year returned the body of journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in captivity.

Ukrainians put on trial have told Russian courts they experienced and witnessed torture in Russia’s notorious prison system.

Kyiv’s Commissioner for Missing Persons, Artur Dobroserdov, told Ukrainian media last month:
“There are more than 60,000 people missing. Around 10,000 are confirmed to be in captivity.”

With Kyiv not knowing the fate of thousands, each exchange bring surprises, a senior official told AFP.

“Almost every exchange includes people no one had knowledge about,” he said.

“Sometimes they return people who were on the lists of missing persons or were considered dead.”

A sizeable part of Ukrainian troops held in Russia were taken captive during the 2022 siege of Mariupol.

Aside from the thousands held since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, Russia also has held some Ukrainians since its 2014 Crimea annexation.

The number of Russian POWs in Ukraine is believed to be considerably smaller.

Zelensky has throughout the war encouraged the taking of Russian troops as prisoners to fill up what he calls Kyiv’s “exchange fund” for future swaps.

Ukraine took hundreds of Russian troops captive during Kyiv’s incursion into the Kursk region in 2024.

It has since also said it took some North Korean soldiers captive who fought for Russia in Kursk.

Kyiv has also jailed a growing number of people for allegedly collaborating with Russian forces and there is speculation that some of these could be included in future swaps.

Last year, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest jailed for justifying Russia’s aggression was included in a prisoner swap with Russia.

Russia said in early May that a group of its civilians from the Kursk region that were taken to Ukraine’s Sumy were still there.

Until the Turkiye talks, the only communication channels open between the warring neighbors in three years were on exchanges of prisoners and soldiers’ bodies as well as on the return of children taken into Russia during Moscow’s invasion.


Indonesian pilgrims embark on Hajj journey under Makkah Route expansion

Updated 23 May 2025
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Indonesian pilgrims embark on Hajj journey under Makkah Route expansion

  • Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route initiative is facilitating travel for pilgrims in Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo
  • Over 125,000 Indonesian Hajj pilgrims have already arrived in the Kingdom as of Tuesday

JAKARTA: More than 120,000 Indonesian pilgrims are benefiting from the Makkah Route initiative this year, as they embark on Hajj after the flagship Saudi program was expanded to three cities across the country.

Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation, sends the largest Hajj contingent of pilgrims every year to perform the spiritual journey that is one of the five pillars of Islam.

In 2025, Saudi Arabia granted Indonesia a quota of 221,000 pilgrims. With the Hajj expected to take place on June 4 and end on June 9, special pilgrimage flights from Indonesia started on May 2.

Over half of the pilgrims are departing under the pre-travel program, which was launched by the Kingdom in 2019 to help pilgrims meet all the visa, customs and health requirements at their airport of origin and save them long hours of waiting before and upon arrival in the Kingdom.

“In Indonesia, Makkah Route is implemented in three airports, Soekarno-Hatta in Jakarta, and then in the cities of Solo and Surabaya,” Mohammed Zain, director of domestic Hajj services at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News.

The initiative was only expanded in 2024 to reach more Indonesian pilgrims in different parts of the country.

This year, a total of 122,156 Indonesian pilgrims, who are departing from the three selected cities, are benefiting from the program.

“This is very helpful in sorting all of the pilgrims’ document requirements, like visa and passport, so that when the pilgrims reach Saudi Arabia, they simply head to their buses and go on their spiritual journey safely and comfortably,” Zain said.

“We hope that for Hajj next year, the Makkah Route initiative will be further expanded in Indonesia, so that we can offer more high-quality Hajj service.”

In Jakarta, the program is implemented at the new Hajj and Umrah terminal in Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which was inaugurated by President Prabowo Subianto earlier this month.

Over 125,000 pilgrims have arrived in the Kingdom as of Tuesday.

Indonesia is among seven Muslim-majority countries — including Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Morocco, Turkiye and Cote d’Ivoire — where Saudi Arabia is operating its Makkah Route initiative.


Rescue efforts underway for 260 workers trapped in a South African gold mine

Updated 23 May 2025
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Rescue efforts underway for 260 workers trapped in a South African gold mine

JOHANNESBURG: Rescue efforts are underway in South Africa to bring 260 workers trapped in a gold mine for a day back to the surface, the Sibanye Stillwater mining company said on Friday.
According to the company, an initial investigation showed that a sub-shaft rock winder skip door opened at the loading point and caused some damage to the mineshaft at the Kloof mine, west of Johannesburg.
“Following a detailed risk assessment, it was decided that employees should remain at the sub-shaft station until it is safe to proceed to the surface, in order to avoid walking long distances at this time,” the company said in a statement.
The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents workers at the Kloof mine, said the miners have been trapped for almost 24 hours, with the company repeatedly changing the estimated time for them to return to the surface.
“We are very concerned because the mine did not even make this incident public until we reported it to the media,” said NUM spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu.
The company said all miners were accounted for and safe, adding that it expected to hoist them back to the surface on Friday.