CAGE welcomes the return home of British man, after winning back his citizenship

<p dir="ltr">London - A British man, E3, returned to the UK on Friday 11th February and is now back home with his family after many years of forced separation. As previously reported in the Guardian^[1] and the Independent^[2], E3 won his legal challenge against the Home Office's decision to strip him of his citizenship in 2017.</p> <div> <div> <div>His return follows that of another British man, N3, who also returned home last year after he too succeeded in his appeal.^[3]</div> <div></div> <div>In a possibly vindictive and potentially unlawful move last night, police stopped and interrogated E3 using draconian Schedule 7 powers at Heathrow Airport as he returned home. These widely criticised border powers enable police to detain and question innocent travellers without suspicion for up to six hours and those stopped do not have the fundamental right to remain silent.</div> <div></div> <div>E3 has never been charged or even arrested by British police in connection with any offence.</div> <div></div> <h2></h2> <h2><strong>E3 told CAGE:</strong></h2> "It is great to be home with my mother after so many years but it was with a very heavy heart that I left my wife and three daughters behind in Bangladesh. I will continue my fight against the Home Office for my daughter to be recognised as a British citizen so that my family can be reunited with me here in London." "Although my flight landed in mid-afternoon, I did not get home until after midnight because of more police harassment at the airport when they wanted to question me for hours about my religious and political views. After five years in exile, all I wanted was to come home and see my mum." &nbsp; <div> <h2><strong>Anas Mustapha, Head of Advocacy at CAGE, said:</strong></h2> </div> “E3 has finally come back home to the UK after experiencing what can only be described as five years of exile. The potential horrors of granting the Home Secretary even greater powers under the Nationality and Borders Bill are laid to bare in this case. CAGE calls for a complete overhaul of the current regime of citizenship deprivation and calls for the end of the use of ‘secret evidence’ and ‘secret courts’.” “CAGE is aware of 5 British citizens (E3, C3, C4, C7, N3) who have succeeded in their appeals in the past 12 months to have their citizenships restored. None of these individuals were ever placed on trial, nor was any judge or court of law involved in the decision to strip them of their citizenship. Their lives were turned upside down for years as they suddenly found themselves exiled in Bangladesh, Turkey, Egypt and the detention camps in Syria. If they were unaware of their deprivations, the appeals process would have taken even longer.” <div></div> <h2><strong>Fahad Ansari, E3's solicitor said:</strong></h2> <div> E3 is an innocent man. He has never been charged, let alone convicted of any offence. Neither when he left the UK in 2017 nor upon his return yesterday did the British police deem him to be of such a threat that he needed to be arrested. Yet for five years, he was left in exile simply because the Home Secretary had decided that he was a threat to national security. We will continue fighting for E3's daughter to be recognised as a British citizen. The High Court has seen the strength of our argument and given E3's daughter permission to judicially review that decision with the case now listed to be heard in May this year. </div> </div> <h2> [END]</h2> <div> <div> <div> <div></div> <div></div> <div>NOTES</div> <div> <div>[1] <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/16/british-man-made-stateless-by-home-office-has-citizenship-reinstated" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jan/16/british-man-made-stateless-by-home-office-has-citizenship-reinstated&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1644794861958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3G1An0ou5hJ91GWoWeytNL">https://www.theguardian.com/<wbr />politics/2022/jan/16/british-<wbr />man-made-stateless-by-home-<wbr />office-has-citizenship-<wbr />reinstated</a></div> </div> <div></div> <div> <div>[2] <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/citizenship-home-office-nationality-borders-bill-b1996167.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/citizenship-home-office-nationality-borders-bill-b1996167.html&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1644794861958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1gCArFJbN6Khyflb6unSaP">https://www.independent.co.<wbr />uk/news/uk/home-news/<wbr />citizenship-home-office-<wbr />nationality-borders-bill-<wbr />b1996167.html</a></div> <div></div> </div> <div> <div>[3] <a href="https://time.com/6146655/uk-citizenship-nationality-immigration-bill/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://time.com/6146655/uk-citizenship-nationality-immigration-bill/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1644794861958000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0sG301h_p7kDZCMklh3ws2">https://time.com/6146655/uk-<wbr />citizenship-nationality-<wbr />immigration-bill/</a></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>