New plea to keep Ays in UK

Newroz and Beriwan pictured inside Dungavel

A fresh attempt is being made to allow four Kurdish children detained in Scotland to be allowed to stay in the UK.

A new application for asylum has been lodged on behalf of the Ay family by the Glasgow-based human rights lawyer, Aamer Anwar.

The move followed the rejection on Thursday by the House of Lords, of the Ays' final legal appeal to be permitted to remain in the UK.

The children, aged between seven and 14 have been held with their mother for more than a year in Dungavel detention centre in Lanarkshire, despite protests from some Scottish churches and politicians.

The Scottish Trades Union Congress has renewed a call for the centre to close, claiming that human rights are being breached.

The family is due to be deported with next week. Mr Anwar says he has not yet received a response from the Home Office.

The Ays are Turkish Kurds who originally fled to Germany and then came to the UK.

They spent almost four years living in Gravesend, in Kent, before being taken to Dungavel last July, prior to deportation.

Earlier this month the Court of Appeal supported a previous High Court decision to deport them back to Germany but the Ays were permitted a final appeal to the House of Lords.