Home Office frees asylum seeker

A Kurdish man from Plymouth who had been threatened with a forced return to Iraq has been released from detention.

Mostapha Kadir Mostapha returned to the city after the Home Office granted him bail at a hearing on Monday.

The conditions of his bail are not yet known, but it is possible the government may want to return him to Iraq at a later date.

Mr Mostapha claims if he went back he would be killed, and is making a fresh claim for asylum in the UK.

Mr Kadir was arrested by immigration officers on 11 August, and taken to a Yorkshire detention centre.

Dangerous place

He claims Islamic militants have threatened to kill him because of his links with communist groups.

Kurds had previously been considered a special case because of the bloodshed in Iraq and the fear that the country could descend into civil war.

However, the government now says there is a "safe route" to the Kurdish region. Refugee groups maintain that all routes are dangerous and the transport plane itself could be targeted.

Mr Kadir, who has a partner in Liskeard, Cornwall, said: "If there wasn't a risk I would not ask anyone to keep me in this country.

"Your country is always the best place to live, but if living there is impossible for you, how can you live there?"