Anuj Bidve shooting treated as hate crime by police

Anuj Bidve, a student at Lancaster University,
was shot dead in Salford on Boxing Day. Photograph: GMP/PA

Indian student shot dead on Boxing Day may have been victim of a racist hate crime, say detectives

The murder of an Indian student who was shot in the head at point-blank range on Boxing Day is being treated as a suspected racist hate crime, police have revealed. Micro-electronics postgraduate Anuj Bidve, was murdered in the early hours of 26 December as he made his way with nine friends from his hotel in Salford to central Manchester to queue up early for Christmas sales.

Investigators say that although there is no specific evidence of the crime being racially motivated they are responding to those affected by the crime who believe it to be a hate crime.

Five people aged between 16 and 20 remain in police custody on suspicion of murder, including a 17-year-old who handed himself in to police on Tuesday evening, in what police have described as a fast-moving investigation. Police have found no previous link between 23-year-old Bidve and those involved in the killing, believed to be two white males, which took place at 1.35am.

The "straight-A" student from Pune, India who was studying at Lancaster University, had a "very short conversation" with the two males before a gun was drawn and aimed at Bidve's head. The gunman and his associate are thought to have fled to towards the Ordsall estate near the scene of another fatal shooting in September and which has been described by locals as rough. A Home Office pathologist has confirmed that Bidve died after suffering gun trauma to the head.

Police also said they were working with the Indian high commission and other agencies to help fly the victim's family from India to Manchester in the next few days.

Chief Superintendent Kevin Mulligan, divisional commander for Salford, said: "We have not established a clear motive for the senseless murder of Anuj, and there is no definitive evidence pointing to it being racially motivated. However, we are treating this as a hate crime based on the growing perceptions within the community it was motivated by hate.

"What I want to stress is that regardless of the motive, it does not change the way detectives from our major incident team are investigating this murder and from day one we have pursued every possible line of inquiry to identify who is responsible for this despicable crime, including CCTV trawls, detailed forensic and ballistic investigations, witness statements and house-to-house inquiries.

"Thanks to the work of staff across the whole of Greater Manchester police, we have made five arrests and all five remain in custody. I cannot comment for obvious reasons about the progress of the investigation but I would like to again take this opportunity to thank people in our community who have come forward and given us information. "

Police said they were duty bound to investigate crimes as hate crimes if they are reported as such. A police source added that the classification also allowed officers to pursue other avenues and leads which would not otherwise be open to them later on in the investigation.

Mulligan confirmed that no murder weapon has been recovered. "We really need that support to continue and I want to urge anyone who knows something to call us. As yet, we have not recovered the murder weapon and I want to implore people to be brave and come forward if they know the whereabouts of that weapon."

Dr Bharati Kar, the general secretary of the Greater Manchester Bengali and Hindu cultural association, said racism was far less of a problem now that it was two decades ago and that her own children had not reported any racist incidents to her recently. Kar said that she was very pleased that Greater Manchester police were taking the reports that the crime was racially motivated seriously.

"I'll be glad if the actual cause is discovered [along with] the killer," she said.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, local resident Susan Wilson, 57, said: "This lovely young man has come here to further his education and people whose lives revolve around violence have killed him. For this to happen in our neighbourhood is devastating and we're all very upset about it. It's like the whole country is looking at Ordsall now because of this. The area doesn't have a great reputation but we want people to know what's happened doesn't represent this area or the people living here."

Guardian

Thanks to the many readers who have sent this in

Home Office responds on EDL threat

The Home Office has written to an umbrella group representing a range of Jewish communal and religious groups in response to statements distancing themselves from the methods and aims of the English Defence League.

Earlier this year the leaders of the United Synagogue, Reform, Liberal and Masorti communities, as well as the Board of Deputies and the Spanish and Portuguese Jews' congregation, highlighted their opposition to the EDL's tactics and called on the far right organisation to refrain from using Jewish and Israelis symbols in its campaigns.

Under the umbrella of the Council of Imams and Rabbis of the Joseph Interfaith Foundation, they rejected in particular the EDL's "efforts to incite hatred and antagonism in our society", its attempts to "foment violence" and "drive a wedge between the Jewish community and our Muslim neighbours".

They attempted to draw a line under the EDL's efforts to attract Jewish membership, which reached a peak with a rally "to oppose Islamic fascism" outside the Israeli embassy last year where EDL members waved Israeli flags. The EDL has a "Jewish Division", but it has been beset by infighting and is understood to have only a handful of Jewish members.

James Brokenshire, the Home Office Minister responsible for policy regarding the EDL, has now sent a letter of response to Mehri Niknam, director of the Council of Imams and Rabbis.

"We welcome your positive action to counter the divisive influence and minimise the impact of EDL activity," he said. "As a government our position is clear, we will not tolerate groups like the EDL who spread hate, seek to divide us and deliberately raise community fears and tensions."

He said the government would continue to condemn the EDL's views and actions when necessary and work with police and local agencies. Mr Brokenshire added that the government trusted local agencies to "put in place suitable local measures to counter the influence and minimise the impact of EDL activity.

"We stand ready to provide advice and support where it is requested."

Jewish Chronicle

Tower Hamlets mayor in talks with police to ban EDL after legal threat

Tower Hamlets’ police chief is in the middle of two days of talks with community leaders over whether the Met should apply to the Home Office to ban the planned English Defence League march in Whitechapel on September 3.

It follows threats by Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman that he will take the Met Police to the High Court if they do not make the application.

Chief Insp Paul Rickett is due at the Town Hall today (Thursday) for a meeting of the Community Contingency Planning and Tension monitoring group. It follows a meeting yesterday with the Independent Police Advisory group held at his Bethnal Green office.

“The EDL tell us if they’re banned they’ll implement a series of unannounced, sporadic demonstrations,” he told the Advertiser. “A ban could mean an EDL demo in the East End that would be a massive challenge to the police – I don’t know if I have the resources to cope.”

The EDL applied weeks ago under the law to demonstrate and is currently negotiating the route and how the march will be managed.

“We can request the Home Office for a ban only if they refuse our conditions,” Mr Rickett warned. “The EDL say they’ll submit application after application to stage a march if we seek a ban – there could be a sustained challenge.”

But he warned a Home Office ban on an EDL march would be an “own goal” which would also stop United East End coalition’s counter march against the EDL planned for the same day.

The mayor of Tower Hamlets has been negotiating with Scotland Yard this week after he publicly warned the Metropolitan Commissioner on Friday that he will go to court unless an application is made by Monday.

Mr Rahman said: “I will instruct lawyers to go to the High Court and seek injunctive relief if the police fail to act. We will not let the EDL or any other bunch of extremists divide our community.”

He challenged Home Secretary Theresa May to use her powers to stop the EDL coming to Whitechapel on grounds of public safety. But no decision had been made by yesterday (Wednesday) by Scotland Yard’s Public Order Office on a ban – despite a 25,000-name petition to stop the EDL handed in last week.

The Town Hall yesterday said: “We are still negotiating with the police and our own lawyers.”

London 24

Thanks to Zaahid for the heads-up

Call for EDL to help fund Blackburn demonstration bill

The English Defence League should contribute to the cost of policing its demonstrations, a committee heard.

Lancashire Police have applied to the Home Office for a reimbursement of the money spent on keeping the peace and preventing disorder at the Blackburn protest and counter-demo on April 2. The operation was described as Lancashire’s biggest ever and cost £500,000 on officers’ pay alone. Other estimates have put the bill closer to £1million with other factors such as loss to businesses taken into account.

County councillor and Lancashire Police Authority member Tony Jones said at the recent meeting that the EDL and similar groups should be treated like football clubs who pay the local force to oversee their games. He said: “If this is going to continue, why should the people of Lancashire have to foot the bill? Why should we lose policing in areas we want to spend money on when we’re having to abstract officers to police these organisations?”

Chief Constable Steve Finnigan confirmed he had since written to the Home Office to ask for a contribution. He said: “It has cost us an awful lot of money. I’ve raised it with Sir Hugh Orde [president of the Association of Chief Police officers] and the Home Office who are looking at the impact on forces around the country.

“There is the argument that this is the price of democracy. But it is getting very expensive and abstracting operational staff who could otherwise be doing important work. It is a big demand on the constabulary.”

Blackburn Citizen

Bradford response to English Defence League is role model for UK

Flashback to the police handling of the EDL protest in Bradford

A film of Bradford’s highly-praised response to the extremist English Defence League invasion last summer is to travel the country as a teaching tool on how to deal with Far Right factions.

Yesterday more than 100 people including civic, policing and community leaders in the city met at the National Media Museum to watch the first public screening of it.

The half-hour documentary, made by racial justice group JUST West Yorkshire and commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, will now be made available to other cities and towns across the country to help plan robust strategies should they face similar situations.

The film, called When Hate Came To Town, which includes interviews with EDL supporters as well as those opposed to them, was being shown at the first of a series of seminars being organised by Bradford Resource Centre to get the city’s public and leaders talking about issues affecting them.

Bradford South Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Alison Rose, a speaker at the meeting, said it was important Bradford people were being given the opportunity to talk about what happened.

Even before the DVD was produced, other police forces across the country were set to follow the city’s example for planning operations ahead of potentially-volatile events, and the Home Office had requested detailed feedback from West Yorkshire Police to uphold as “best practice”.

Telegraph and Argus

Thanks to NewsHound for the heads-up

English Defence League march banned by home secretary

Far-right group still plans to hold 'static' bank holiday demonstration in Bradford

The home secretary, Theresa May, today authorised a ban on a planned march by far-right group the English Defence League (EDL), due to take place in Bradford later this month. The blanket ban prevents any marches in the city over the August bank holiday weekend, when the EDL had said it was planning to stage a demonstration members described as "the big one".

The Home Office said: "Having carefully balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, the home secretary gave her consent to a Bradford council order banning any marches in the city over the bank holiday weekend. West Yorkshire police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and property are protected, and we encourage all local people to work with the police to ensure community cohesion is not undermined by public disorder."

The decision by Bradford council to seek a marching ban followed a formal request by West Yorkshire chief constable Sir Norman Bettison, made after his force carried out a risk assessment of the proposed event. Bettison said he was taking the action after considering the "understandable concerns of the community".

"Having carefully considered the issues arising from any planned or unplanned march by protesters in Bradford, I have decided to apply to Bradford council for an order prohibiting the holding of a public procession on that day," he said.

However, police and the Home Office say there are no powers to prevent the EDL holding a "static demonstration", as they have done in other towns over the past year.

Anti-racist group Unite Against Fascism is planning to hold a counter "demonstration and carnival" in the city on the same day as the EDL's static protest. That event will also come under the home secretary's blanket ban on marches.

In a letter to the council, crime prevention minister James Brokenshire said the government "fully understands local concerns" that the EDL demonstration "has the potential to spark public disorder and to impact on community cohesion, particularly given the disturbances in Bradford in 2001". He wrote: "The application from the chief constable of West Yorkshire police is clear that the activities of some who attend English Defence League protests – and indeed counter-protests – has little to do with freedom of expression.

Brokenshire said the police had the power to impose conditions on the size, location and duration of a static protest if they believe it will result in serious public disorder. Officers may also be needed to escort groups to and from the protest, but "any such escort would be to safeguard local communities and should not be misinterpreted as a breach of the ban on marches".

Earlier this week a spokesman for the EDL said that although it may have to "modify its plans slightly", if the ban was granted, the Bradford demonstration would "most definitely still go ahead".

The decision to ban the march follows a campaign that saw more than 10,000 people in Bradford sign a petition which also received the backing of community and political leaders.

The EDL formed in Luton last year and has become the most significant far-right street movement in the UK since the National Front in the 1970s. It claims to be a peaceful, non-racist organisation opposed only to "militant Islam". But many of its demonstrations have ended in confrontations with the police after some supporters became involved in violence, as well as racist and Islamophobic chanting.

In May the Guardian revealed that the EDL was planning to step up its Islamophobic street campaign, targeting Tower Hamlets in London and Bradford.

Guardian

A victory for common sense

English Defence League "Patriot march on London to challenge Parliament" © David Hoffman

The racist English Defence League has called off its planned protest in Tower Hamlets for Sunday 20 June after the Troxy cancelled a booking for a conference that was due to be addressed by radical Islamic clerics.

It appears that a lot of pressure was put on the Troxy to cancel the booking, particularly by the council. In a statement released last night the EDL announced that as a result of the cancellation they were calling off their own protest.

While this removes the prospect of confrontation and is a victory for common sense it also highlights the complete failure of the authorities to address the growing EDL threat. Over the past few years hundreds of millions of pounds have been ploughed into community cohesion and other such initiatives but then we are told that groups that are deliberately setting out to whip up tension and violence cannot be stopped.

The problem appears to stem from the Public Order Unit at the Home Office, who have taken it upon themselves to act as the champions of free speech in advising successive Ministers that EDL protests should be allowed to happen. Their analysis and advice has been so shallow that one Minister refused to accept one report they prepared on the EDL and another commented "I learn more about the EDL from Searchlight than I do from our own official briefings".

They currently hide behind the legal opinion that static protests cannot be prevented but their real reason is far more ideological and short-sighted. I shall be writing more about this in the July issue of Searchlight.

Nick Lowles at Hope not hate

Harrow mosque shunned by Islamophobics over request for dialogue

Anti-Islam campaigners refused requests for a dialogue from Harrow Central Mosque at a rally today

Ajmal Masroor, a spokesman for the religious institution, crossed police lines to talk to affiliates of the English Defence League (EDL) and Stop Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) at an anti-mosque rally, in Station Road. He invited representatives of the two groups to come into the mosque and discuss their objections to Muslim religion, but the protesters rejected the offer.

SIOE leader Stephen Gash said: “What's the point of me discussing with an Imam at the mosque. What we want is the debate with John Denham and the Home Office.”

Mr Masroor said: “An invitation was made to the groups but they've refused. We spoke to SIOE, extended the arm and invited them to the mosque and they refused. Stephen Gash said it was not worth his time to come and talk to us. As a community of people we have demonstrated we are united, we are not going to be hijacked by right wing fascist and racist groups. You are not going to be able to hijack [our] harmony and peaceful existence.”

Mahmood Awan, trustee of the mosque, said: “It's a shame that they are not prepared to have a dialogue. We could have tried to build bridges but they don't seem to want to do that. All they want is to come here and disrupt our community.”

Anti-fascists confronted the English Defence League and Stop Islamisation of Europe in a peaceful protest in the car park of Harrow Civic Centre, in Station Road. Members of the two organisations chanted slogans at each other from behind metal crowd control barriers and lines of police officers.

Mr Gash said: “I don't wish to be disruptive, especially around Christmas, but I say the only recourse available to us is the streets. Nobody will allow us to talk on TV.”

Paul Brown, of central London, an affiliate of EDL, said: “We are here to protest against the relentless march of Islam in Britain and across the world. It's been going on for centuries. People have been planning this. This is what Islam is all about. They go into areas and take over and crush everyone.”

Tony McNulty, MP for Harrow East, said: “They don't know what they are talking about. It's a protest fuelled by ignorance. It's a matter of profound despair to them that Harrow is such a united, multi-faith community.”

Harrow Times

A message from Harrow Central Mosque

Victory for the peace loving people of Harrow

Today’s demonstration by the Stop Islamisation of Europe and the English Defence League was in every measure a miserable defeat for the hate mongers and the Islamaphobes.

The Harrow Central Mosque is extremely grateful that people from so many backgrounds and faiths stood shoulder to shoulder in support of and in solidarity towards this great centre of peace and harmony. The Mosque would also like to express its grateful thanks to the youth of Harrow and its surrounding areas for heeding the call to not attend this event.

During the afternoon the Mosque extended an invitation to both the groups and at one stage even directly invited the leaders of EDL to have face to face and civilised constructive dialogue with Mosque representatives. Initially they agreed but then changed their minds and went home. However, the SIOE declined to accept the invitation point blank and the leader of this group, Stephen Gash, said ‘this will be a total waste of time and fruitless exercise’.

The Mosque is always ready to welcome all people regardless of faith or background and is proud of its well long standing track record to uphold the principles of a multicultural and cohesive society.

So today was a victory for the people of Harrow and defeat for the racists and the fascists. There is only message the Mosque is willing to give- this is our home; Britain is our country; British people are our people; and we will do everything for its well-being.

Harrow Central Mosque

Stop this racist charade

Some idiots in the Home Office might be fooled by the English Defence League but the racist agenda of the hooligan gang is becoming more obvious by the day.

At the end of last week the EDL got hold of an email that had been widely circulated by the North West TUC advertising a meeting of trade unions to discuss the planned EDL protest for Manchester City Centre next Saturday. The EDL response was illuminating. The EDL administrator – who publicly claims not to be racist – riled against “building mosques”, “uncontrolled immigration” and the “multicultural hell hole of a country” Britain had become.

The racist sentiments were also evident in the latest EDL posting to their members, where the woman who has been liaising with police, said that many of their followers were planning to wear masks during the protest in opposition to the burka.

Despite the glaring racist agenda of the EDL the Home Office continue to bury its head in the sand. It refuses to even classify the group as right wing and says that they are not linked to hooligans. If trouble erupts on Saturday the EDL, media and the police may be quick to blame anti-fascists and others. However, the Home Office’s refusal to accept that the EDL is nothing more than a crude racist attempt to whip up hatred and violence should make them at least culpable.

Hope not hate

Home Secretary seeks ban on BNP protesting near Home Office

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says she wants to prevent the BNP from targeting Home Office buildings for protests after a strong complaint from the Public and Commercial Services union

In a letter to PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka, Ms Smith says she shares our concern about the use of the Home Office as a "backdrop" for BNP demonstrations.

PCS wrote to the home secretary in April after the BNP held an anti-immigration demo outside Lunar House in Croydon, one of the department’s main immigration enquiry offices. With just hours notice of the event, the union organised a counter demonstration and pointed out that PCS representatives had previously been denied permission to hand out leaflets about members’ pay on the same spot.

The letter from Ms Smith makes clear that the Home Office will do everything it can to prevent similar demonstrations taking place near Home Office property, and that trade unions will be fully informed about any future demonstrations. Ms Smith also gives a "personal commitment that no such demonstration will be allowed to take place actually on Home Office premises".

PCS expects this pledge to be honoured by whoever takes over as home secretary if Ms Smith steps down, as has been reported, and the union will be taking this up at the earliest opportunity with Home Office management and any future home secretary.

The union also believes BNP members should be barred from employment in the civil and public services – as they are from the police and prison service – because their views are incompatible with the provision of universal public services, free from discrimination.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "It was an absolute scandal that the BNP was ever allowed even close to Lunar House, an office that provides an important and valuable public service to migrants and their families. But we are pleased that Ms Smith has given us a commitment that it will not happen again. If it is true that she is stepping down as home secretary then I will expect her successor to honour this commitment in every detail and see that this is taken forward as a priority.

"The fascist BNP has no place in our communities, it does not speak for ordinary people and its methods of scapegoating and victimising some of the most vulnerable members of our society must be opposed at every step. Furthermore, BNP members should not be allowed to work as civil and public servants and we will continue to press the government on this issue."

PCS

Banned Dutch politician lands in Britain

A right-wing Dutch politician banned from entering the UK over his anti-Islam views landed in Britain today.

Geert Wilders was invited to Westminster to show his 17-minute film Fitna, which criticises the Koran as a "fascist book", by a member of the House of Lords. But on Tuesday he received a letter from the Home Office refusing him entry because his opinions "would threaten community security and therefore public security" in the UK.

Mr Wilders, a member of Holland's Freedom Party, condemned the British Government as "weak and cowardly" and vowed he would make the trip anyway. He left Amsterdam on a BMI flight at lunchtime, a party spokesman said.

The aircraft touched down at London's Heathrow Airport at about 2pm.

BMI refused to confirm that Mr Wilders had booked a flight with the airline, citing data protection laws. A spokesman said only: "We are obliged to observe Government-enforced travel restrictions. If they are imposed, we are duty-bound to abide by them."

It is understood that the controversial politician's passport will be flagged up at Heathrow immigration and he will be refused entry to Britain at that point.

Mr Wilders has urged the Dutch government to ban the Koran and warned of a "tsunami" of Islam swamping the Netherlands. His film sparked violent protests around the Muslim world last year for linking verses in the religious text with footage of terrorist attacks. He has launched an appeal against an Amsterdam court's order that he should be prosecuted for hate speech.

Mr Wilders said he had already shown his film to Denmark's parliament and would take it to Italy and the US House of Representatives in the coming weeks. He told the BBC: "I was very surprised and very saddened that the freedom of speech that I believe was a very strong point in UK society is being harassed today."

Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen said the government of the Netherlands would press for a reversal of the travel ban.

UK Independence Party peer Lord Pearson, who invited Mr Wilders to Britain, said the screening of the film would go ahead today "with or without Mr Wilders". In a joint statement he and cross-bench peer Baroness Cox said they were "promoting freedom of speech" and accused the Government of "appeasing" militant Islam.

They added: "Geert Wilders' Fitna film, available on the web, is not a threat to anyone. It merely suggests how the Koran has been used by militant Islamists to promote and justify their violence. They react in fury and menace to our intention to show the film and have boasted that their threats of aggressive demonstrations prevented its previous showing in the Mother of Parliaments.

"This was not the case - the event was postponed to clarify issues of freedom of speech. The threat of intimidation in fact increases the justification for the film to be shown and discussed in Parliament and by the British and international press."

The Home Office said: "The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. It will stop those who want to spread extremism, hatred and violent messages in our communities from coming to our country, and that was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced in October last year."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Freedom of speech is our most precious freedom of all, because all the other freedoms depend on it. But there is a line to be drawn even with freedom of speech, and that is where it is likely to incite violence or hatred against someone or some group. Where there is risk of harm to others, there has to be some limit.

"Having watched Geert Wilders' movie Fitna, with its raw and emotional appeals to anti-Islamic feeling and its shocking images of violence, there is no doubt in my mind that he has overstepped the line that should be defended in a civilised society and that the Home Secretary's ruling is right."

A spokesman for the Conservative Party said it did not wish to comment.

The National Secular Society's president said he wrote to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith arguing that she had made a mistake in denying an application by a "democratically-elected politician from a sovereign state who wants to come and express an opinion".

Terry Sanderson said: "It may be a controversial opinion but he is entitled to express it. We think that the wrong people are being targeted here because the reason they have given for refusing him entry is that it may result in some kind of public disturbance. We think that is not a good enough reason. It's very disturbing that they are prepared to do this just on the basis that somebody might object."

Mr Sanderson said that, while the organisation did not agree with a lot of what Mr Wilders said, the right way to deal with it was to "argue with him, debate and discuss - not silence him".

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: "Geert Wilders has been an open and relentless preacher of hate - there is little difference between his views and those of the far right. We have no problem with the challenge of criticisms to our faith, but the film that will be screened by Lord Pearson and Baroness Cox is nothing less than a cheap and tacky attempt to whip up hysteria against Muslims.

"Mr Wilders' xenophobic views have been identified as repugnant by a Dutch court, and is now confirmed by his official exclusion from the United Kingdom. It is now time to ask why Peers of the Realm who promote such demagogues without any censure are allowed to be regarded as mainstream, responsible leaders in our community."

Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of Muslim youth organisation the Ramadhan Foundation, supported the Government's stance. He said: "His hatred of Islam is based on fiction and his presence in the UK may lead to community tensions. We in the UK value freedom and also our communities have worked so hard to build understanding and respect for each other. Mr Wilders and his fascist views are not welcomed to our country where we pride ourselves as a multi-faith society. This is not about freedom of speech but about stopping the incitement to religious hatred this man promotes."

After leaving the aircraft, Mr Wilders was taken into a side room to be interviewed, witnesses said.

The Dutch ambassador to Britain, Pim Waldeck, was at Heathrow to offer assistance.

Among those waiting for Mr Wilders in arrivals at the airport was Gerard Batten, UK Independence Party MEP for London. He said: "I thought it would be a nice touch to turn up and welcome him here if he gets through."

Independent

BNP links to immigration service staff

After nearly 300 allegations of brutality and racist abuse, official inquiry is launched

An official investigation has been launched after two immigration service staff working with asylum-seekers were found to have links to the British National Party, The Independent has learnt.

One guard employed to look after asylum-seekers at a detention centre has been forced to resign after his name was found on a membership list of the BNP. Another man has been suspended while his employer investigates alleged links to the same far-right organisation.

Both cases raise serious concerns about racism within the immigration system, where membership of extreme political groups has long been suspected. Over the past two years The Independent has helped reveal nearly 300 allegations of brutality, including 38 claims of racism, made by asylum-seekers about private security and immigration staff. Some of the allegations included abusive and racist language, in which refugees fleeing persecution were referred to as "monkeys" or told to "go back to their own countries".

The only two services where membership of the BNP can be grounds for dismissal are the police force and the Prison Service.

In the case of the immigration service, everyone working in immigration removal centres or in the guarding or removal of asylum-seekers must sign a declaration making clear that they are not members of the BNP, Combat 18 or the National Front. Those who are found to belong to any group that promotes racism will lose their accreditation to work in the immigration system.

Last night, the UK Border Agency said it "will not tolerate racist behaviour by individuals working in immigration removal centres. All allegations are investigated and the UKBA can revoke an individual's accreditation to work for the agency or have any contact with detainees."

It is understood that a security guard resigned after a list of BNP members was leaked to the media last year. In the case of the suspended guard, the investigation is being conducted by the private contractor. During his suspension, the man will not be able to work with refugees or enter any immigration building.

BNP policy on immigration stipulates: "We will also clamp down on the flood of 'asylum-seekers', all of whom are either bogus or can find refuge much nearer their home countries."

Last month the Home Office received another report, this time from its own complaints watchdog, that raised serious concerns about the treatment of complaints of racism made by asylum-seekers, many of which had been miscategorised as "poor service" complaints. The report, written by the Home Office's Complaints Audit Committee (CAC), and seen by The Independent, said senior officials had "joined us in voicing concern that serious complaints such as allegations of assault aggravated by racism have been handled as service delivery complaints and as a consequence have not been properly managed".

The Labour MP Diane Abbott said last night: "If it is true that staff employed to work with asylum-seekers and immigrants are members of the BNP then it is yet another sign that the Home Office are allowing for the mistreatment of immigrants in this country. For years, campaign groups and my colleagues and I have been pointing out that hiring private contractors to work as immigration guards is a bad idea. It seems we will now have more proof of this. People who come to this country deserve to be treated with the same dignity and respect that is afforded to citizens."

A spokesperson for Medical Justice, which helped compile a dossier of nearly 300 complaints of alleged abuse, said: "We hear detainees complain about racism on an almost daily basis and it's virtually unheard of for a complaint to be upheld. The sheer volume of detainees complaining suggests among certain immigration guards there seems to be a canteen culture of racism which can flourish if left unchecked. Detainees feel dehumanised."

In its report, the CAC further warned: "Complaints of racism have caused us concern, as failures to report and investigate them fully may leave the UK Border Agency liable to prosecution under the Race Relations Act and to other anti-discrimination legislation... We have learnt of special problems in the detention estate, where complaints forms have a tick-box marked 'racism' and where officials believe that racism has been widely used as an inappropriate add-on to service delivery complaints, such as a detainee claiming that he had been served cold food because of his ethnic origin.

"We have reservations about the accuracy of this view in light of Sir William MacPherson's definition of a racist incident as 'any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person'. As we do not routinely audit service delivery complaints, we cannot calculate the extent of alleged misuse of the term 'racist'."

The CAC said the Home Office should have supplied all misconduct complaints alleging racism. "We received only four complaints of racism from Colnbrook [detention centre, near Heathrow Airport] in 2007. This would appear to be a low number of potential complaints according to evidence collected by the HMIP [prison inspectorate] team, whose survey yielded the information that 18 per cent of detainees said they had been victimised by staff on the basis of their nationality and 15 per cent said they had been victimised on the basis of their ethnic or cultural origin."

Independent

'Inhumane and oppressive': the final verdict on Britain's asylum policy

The most comprehensive examination of the UK's asylum system ever conducted has found it "marred by inhumanity" and "not yet fit for purpose".

The report, published by the Independent Asylum Commission, is a damning indictment of the Home Office's failure to deal fairly with those applying for sanctuary in this country. The commission found that Britain's treatment of asylum-seekers "falls seriously below the standards to be expected of a humane and civilised society". Its interim report will be delivered to the Home Office today by a delegation of asylum-seekers.

The report details how the "adversarial" system is failing applicants from the very first point of interview, with officials accused of stacking the odds against genuine claimants. "A 'culture of disbelief' persists among decision-makers," it said. "Along with lack of access to legal advice for applicants this is leading to perverse and unjust decisions."

The findings are the result of the most thorough look at the system in history, with testimonies from every sphere of society, including three former home secretaries, more than 100 NGOs, 90 asylum-seekers, the police, local authorities, and hundreds of citizens.

All-day hearings were held in seven major cities, where hundreds of people gave evidence, from those who brand the system too lenient to those who think it is a blot on the country's human rights record. As well as this current information, an independent academic body was tasked to gather all documents already published on the issue in the past five years, from both sides of the political spectrum.

Three areas of the system came under particular fire. The use of detention centres – especially to lock up children, pregnant women and torture victims – was condemned, as was the often brutal handling of removals, and the use of destitution as a tool to drive claimants out of the country.

Sir John Waite, co-chair of the commission said: "The overuse of detention, the scale of destitution and the severity of removals are all areas which need attention before the system can be described as fit for purpose".

The commissioners found that locking up those seeking asylum was costly and often completely needless. "The detention of asylum-seekers is overused, oppressive and an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer," they said. The detention of children was in turn branded "wholly unjustified".

Sir John called for "a thorough re-examination" of the detention and bail system, which he said treated asylum-seekers like criminals. "The justification for such a system is the fear of absconding, and that fear is, in our opinion, grossly exaggerated," he said.

According to the commission, factors such as post-traumatic stress were not considered enough when asylum-seekers had their initial interviews with border officials. Victims of rape and torture who might initially find it difficult to describe their experiences sometimes had their cases overlooked because they only described these incidents in later conversations.

"Some of those seeking sanctuary, particularly women, children and torture survivors, have additional vulnerabilities that are not being appropriately addressed," it found.

Cuts in the legal aid budget have also made it more difficult for those with complex cases to find lawyers to take them on, resulting in many genuine claims being overlooked. Removals by private security firms were described by the commission as being carried out with "unnecessary violence and carelessness". The commission said it had heard testimony of the "very severe handling" of claimants, and criticised the absence of any monitoring system to follow-up on the fate of those removed.

The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: "The whole system is fundamentally a mess and broken, and this report makes a pretty good job of summarising that. The asylum system combines incredible complexity with systematic incompetence, and thousands wait for a decision year after year".

Donna Covey, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said: "This is an important set of findings from an independent commission, which presents overwhelming evidence that the asylum system is still not fit for purpose.

"It is surely now time for the Government to take a long hard look at the way it treats people seeking sanctuary on our shores. We must treat people with basic decency, and the system must get asylum decisions right – they are a matter of life and death."

While the report disclosed the initial findings of the commission, further publications in May, June and July will also include recommendations on how to deliver reform and rectify problems in the system.

Yeukai Taruvinga, 25: 'I found the treatment very brutal. I was expecting to receive sanctuary'

Yeukai Taruvinga, has seen first hand the iniquities of the asylum system. A student activist from Zimbabwe, she fled to the UK in 2001, after persecution for her support of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

When she arrived in Britain she thought things would improve, but life was not as she'd hoped. "I was expecting to receive sanctuary, but when I came to the UK it was a completely different scenario. I found the treatment of asylum-seekers was very brutal and inhumane".

"I was detained several times without committing any crime – just because I was an asylum-seeker," she said. "My treatment by officers was very rough, and in one centre I was put into a cell with no windows and a dirty bed. If you needed help there was no way of calling because the reception was so far away. All we could do was bang on the door."

She has been transported around the country between three different detention centres, never knowing if they were sending her home or moving her on. "It was very traumatic and they never explained why they were moving me", she said. "I kept thinking they were about to take me back to Zimbabwe".

Ms Taruvinga has not been in detention now since 2005, but when she was first released she was left with nowhere to go and nothing to eat. After being told she was not entitled to any support, she was forced to beg from churches to find food to eat.

Independent