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MPR Solicitors secure the liberty of official NATO coalition forces' interpreter

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MPR Solicitors secure the liberty of official NATO coalition forces’ interpreter

MPR Solicitors have been retained by an Afghan interpreter of the NATO coalition forces in Afghanistan.

The plight of local interpreters in Afghanistan has been well documented in recent reports. Whilst NATO troops remain in Afghanistan with the overall aim of reinforcing legitimacy in President Hamid Karzai’s regime, local men play an integral role in facilitating communication. These men are often faced with grave consequences for assisting NATO forces. Taliban insurgents have shown little reluctance in both expeditiously and brutally enacting summary justice.

There has been a growing influx of Afghan refugees to the UK, many of whom have endured torture, beatings and continuous death threats at the hands of the Taliban. In the preponderance of cases, those who are fortunate enough to escape are instructed to destroy their identity documents before landing in the United Kingdom. The logic is to prevent automatic deportation as a person cannot be deported from this country without identification documents.

As a deterrent, parliament introduced the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 which makes it a criminal offence to enter the United Kingdom without identification documents. For most Afghan refugees, after fleeing the near constant brutality of the Taliban,  automatic imprisonment on arrival into the UK usually follows.

In this extremely exceptional case, we have managed to secure our client’s liberty by making astute and expert submissions to persuade the Court to depart from the norm and grant this brave interpreter his liberty. This is an outstanding result which demonstrates our commitment to equality and human rights. Notwithstanding the pessimism shown by many as to the prospects of success in our application, our persistence and skill delivered justice for a truly outstanding individual.

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