Children in mosque raid become 'wards of court'

The children of an Afghan couple who sought sanctuary in a British mosque to avoid deportation to Germany were made wards of court yesterday, campaigners said.

But the Home Office said it was still making preparations for the removal from Britain of their parents, Farid and Feriba Ahmadi, who have been held at a detention centre in Harmondsworth, near Heathrow, since their arrest last Thursday.

The couple spent 28 days in the Ghausia mosque in Lye, a small town in the West Midlands, before they were forcibly removed by police in riot gear.

Their daughterHadia, six, and son, Seear, who is four, were being cared for by Soraya Walton, a friend, to protect them from the possible trauma of an eviction. Yesterday, Ms Walton travelled to London with the children and members of the family's support group to hold a vigil outside the Home Office.

A spokesman for the Home Office said the children were expected to be reunited with their parents at the detention centre and then taken back to Germany, where the family had made a claim for asylum before moving to Britain.

But a campaign groupfighting the deportation said the children had been made wards of court. Jim Warner, a member of the group, said: "As I understand it ... this order will give us breathing space to apply for a review of the decision to deport Mr and Mrs Ahmadi. I believe the children have been placed with Soraya Walton for the time being."

He also claimed that, in the meantime, Mr and Mrs Ahmadi, who arrived in Britain last year, could not be deported.

Under the Dublin Convention, EU member states have agreed that asylum-seekers should make their claims for refugee status in the first safe country in which they arrive. The Home Office spokesman said: "Seeking asylum ultimately has got to be about reaching a safe haven rather than about finding the destination of your choice."

The Ahmadis say they left Afghanistan because of persecution by the Taliban regime. Their journey took them first to Turkey, from where they were sent to Kiev, Ukraine, despite speaking no Russian. After two weeks there they paid for a train journey they were told would take them to England. Instead, it stopped in Munich, where they were arrested and detained in a processing centre.

Their supporters say they decided to escape from the camp because they were subject to racial and religious abuse, a claim that is disputed by the Home Office.

The family finally arrived in England in January last year, when they were caught being smuggled in the back of a lorry. They were given a temporary home in Lye while their return to Germany was organised. But they stayed in Britain and a campaign was started against their deportation.

The raid on the mosque, which involved 17 police officers, was widely criticised.

Syed Azis Pasha, the general secretary of the Union of Muslim Organisations, said that the police action, which was mounted shortly after the elders had finished their early- morning prayers, was disrespectful. "Talks should have taken place with the mosque authorities to persuade them to leave," Mr Pasha said.

A West Midlands Police spokesman said: "We would not ordinarily enter a religious building but there are occasions when this is necessary because they may be being used to protect people from the implications of the law."