Reprieve brothers' asylum appeal

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/wales/south_west/7160367.stm

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Two sons of a Pakistani family living in Swansea who won a reprieve from deportation will find out in the next two weeks if they are granted asylum.

The Border & Immigration Agency agreed to defer Christopher and Calvin George's deportation 25 minutes before they were to fly to Pakistan on Monday.

The Home Office said it could not comment on specific cases.

Meanwhile, their father George William has been released from hospital after suffering chest pains on Christmas Eve.

Mr William was taken to Whips Cross hospital in Leyton, east London.

Doctors observed his condition and carried out tests but have confirmed that he did not have a heart attack as originally feared. He was released on Christmas morning and is now back at his home in Swansea.

According to Keith Ross from Asylum Justice, Mr William suffered a heart attack in the summer and was on medication but forgot to bring it with him when he came to London to try to prevent his two elder son's deportation.

He and wife Veronica William, together with their three younger children, won a temporary reprieve from deportation on Friday.

The parents, their two daughters and youngest son have a case review

Christopher and Calvin George were facing deportation over alleged visa irregularities even though they have been in the UK since 2004 and have up-to-date visas.

Their asylum appeal will be considered under the fast track system and if they are turned down they have a right of appeal to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal.

They were returned to the Oakington Detention Centre in Cambridgeshire and were not allowed to spend Christmas with their family, who are Christians.

Mr William's sons were taken to the detention centre in Cambridgeshire on Friday as the rest of the family were released from a removal centre near Gatwick airport where they were to have been deported to Pakistan on Sunday.

"We are quite satisfied and happy," said Mr William after finding out about his elder sons' temporary reprieve.

Campaign by friends

Mr William, a volunteer in Swansea for Oxfam which has been supporting the family, fled Pakistan claiming he and his family faced harassment and persecution because of their Christian beliefs.

They came to the UK in 2003.

The family's claims for asylum have been rejected and on Wednesday immigration officers went to the family home in Swansea and took the family into detention.

Christopher and Calvin - who use their father's first name as their surnames - happened to be visiting at the time and were taken to holding cells at Swansea prison.

After a campaign by their friends, and with support from the children's class-mates, the High Court decided to look again at their claims that they faced persecution if returned to Pakistan.