UK Home office to pay nearly £100,000 to an asylum seeker for breach of human rights

The story of a woman from Pakistan who sought refuge in United Kingdom is slowly gaining worldwide attention. This asylum seeker not only managed to stay in the country but was also awarded with nearly £100,000.

According to a report by The Telegraph, Nadra Almas flew across the ocean and reached Britain on a student visa in 2004. However her visa expired five months after she arrived. Nevertheless she continued to stay in the country.

She was served with a notice of removal in February 2008.  But between 2005 and 2014, Almas made six applications to stay in the country.

She claimed her Christian faith would make her a target in the Pakistan and she would be a victim of persecution.

The UK Home Office detained Almas in 2018 and she was informed that she would be deported back to Pakistan.

Almas was 'handcuffed and detained, imprisoned in a room with two men she did not know and told she was going to be flown back to Pakistan'.

But she was later released under strict conditions, including not being allowed to travel, work or claim any other benefits. 

Her son, who was 26 at the time, was granted the status of refugee the same year Almas was detained. He had applied on the same grounds as Almas.

She was granted the status of a refugee only three years later.

However, Almas went to court against the Home Office and stated her reasons for seeking asylum in the country. Moreover, she also claimed the restrictions put on her by the UK government limited her lifestyle and breached her human rights.

Justice Recorder McNeill ruled that the delay in granting refugee status breached Ms Almas's 'rights to a family life' under the Human Rights Act. 

The government appealed the decision of the judge and the case was sent to a High Court in Birmingham.

Daily Mail reported the judge saying, "She could not travel, she could not move freely, she could not develop her private and family life because her status was uncertain, and she could not work or claim public funds and had to rely on the little support from the asylum system."

Later, Justice Ritchie dismissed government's appeal and maintained that the 'breaches were not trivial or minor'. 

Almas was compensated with £98,757.04, as a result.