Navigation guide Refugee populations in the UK: Algerians - ICAR

een Algerian, though many of those people arrested have been released without charge (see key issues
section).
Only one Algerian has been conclusively linked with ‘serious non-political crimes’ in the British courts (see
below). This occurred in 1996, well before either of these acts was passed, and suggests that previous
legislation may have been sufficient to protect Britain from violent individuals.
The case of T
T claimed asylum in the UK in 1994. He admitted involvement in a bomb attack on Algiers airport in
which 10 people had died but argued that this was a political act and should not bar him from refugee
status in the UK. His case eventually went to the House of Lords in 1996, and has become an important
test case for the exclusion clause (Article 1F) of the Geneva Convention. In his judgement, Lord Mustill
argued:
‘Those who use violence and fear to struggle against oppression may themselves be
oppressors, causing as much suffering to the defenceless as those whom they seek to
displace. When they flee to a foreign country the impulse to protect them from persecution
remains, but it is muted. The community as a whole has a moral right to protection, which
should not be compromised by offering too ready a refuge to those who, having embroiled the
population in violence, find themselves on the losing side.’ 1
Although Lord Mustill accepted that, but for these violent acts, T would be considered a refugee, this
violent activity was sufficient to exclude him under article 1F. This finding is important since on the only
occasion when it has been demonstrated that an Algerian has been involved in violent activity, the legal
framework that existed in 1996 was sufficient to exclude him from protection as a refugee.
1 T v Secretary of State for the Home Department House of Lords [1996] 2 All ER 865, [1996] 2 WLR 766.
Navigation guide to refugee populations: Algerians
©ICAR 2004, moral rights Michael Collyer
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