Channel 4 News’ Simon Israel has reported today that a thousand or more asylum seekers may have been wrongly convicted for using false passports to travel to the UK.
According to Channel 4 News, the Court of Appeal today quashed the criminal convictions of five asylum seekers in a case brought by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.channel-4-news-a-thousand-or-more-asylum-seekers
The Commission says the original convictions are tantamount to a substantial failure and abuse of the law, as the asylum seekers were allowed a defence which was denied to them.
Israel tweeted that the Commission said the decisions to prosecute were flawed, defence advice to plead guilty was wrong and judges should have done more to stop it happening.
According to Channel 4 News, the Commission believes that it is possible a thousand or more asylum seekers may have been wrongly convicted.
