Nine-month prison sentence for fleeing ethnic cleansing

Refugees in Calais, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)

Vlad Bortun

Abdul Rahman Haroun, a 40-year-old Sudanese refugee, was sentenced to nine months in prison for trying to reach the UK by walking the Channel Tunnel.

However, Abdul - who fled Darfur in 2004 in fear of ethnic cleansing - will not have to serve the sentence, because of the time he had already spent in prison awaiting trial. His sentence was based on a 19th century law - the Malicious Damage Act 1861 - which prohibits "obstructing an engine or a carriage using a railway".

The political nature of this Kafkaesque decision is obvious: to dissuade refugees from trying to come to the UK. It fits with the wider anti-refugee policy of the Tory government, which - together with its French counterpart - has been spending millions on erecting walls and fences around the tunnel's exits.

Such a strategy is not only cruel, but utterly bankrupt. People will keep trying to cross the channel, and many of them will keep dying, suffocated, electrocuted or run over by trains - just as the EU's 'deterrence' approach has only led to more boats sinking in the Mediterranean.

Granting immediate asylum to people fleeing war and persecution - including many unaccompanied children - should not be an issue in 2016 for one of the richest countries in the world.

This policy must be backed by public investment in social housing, education, healthcare and well-paid jobs for all - refugees and the local population alike. We all are victims of the same oppressive and bankrupt capitalist system.

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.