In The Press

Public Law Director Toufique Hossain featured in The Guardian commenting on the Duncan Lewis case whereby Four asylum seekers who fled rape and torture in their home countries brought a test case against the home secretary for locking them up in immigration centres under the detained fast-track (DFT) system in breach of the government’s own rule that torture survivors generally should not be incarcerated.

“Toufique Hossain, a solicitor in the case, said the high court ruling was a significant victory. He said some of those who had strong cases and should never have been locked up on DFT had already been forcibly removed from the UK.”

“In these cases, our clients were detained on the fast-track system. They are torture victims, rape victims, victims of serious harm. Our clients told the Home Office as best they could of their trauma through the Home Office’s own internal system, which we now know clearly didn’t work,” Hossain said.
“These were four clients but indicative of a significantly wider group of vulnerable people locked up, disbelieved and refused asylum. Some have been removed. Some still languish in detention. Our cases, coupled with the government’s change of position, will pave the way for countless unlawful detention claims and reviews to negative asylum decisions.”