High Court Rules against the government on hijacker asylum seekers

The UK government have lost a case in the High Court where Afghan asylum seekers who hijacked a plane to Britain challenged the government's failure to grant them refugee status. The judge, Mr Justice Sullivan, was quite scathing about what he perceives to be the government's abuse of power in the case:

"It is difficult to conceive of a clearer case of 'conspicuous unfairness amounting to an abuse of power'."

"Lest there be any misunderstanding, the issue in this case is not whether the executive should take action to discourage hijacking, but whether the executive should be required to take such action within the law as laid down by Parliament and the courts."

The Home Office took an "am I bovvered" approach in response:

"The hijackers are not deemed to present a threat to the UK's national security at present and it remains our intention to remove them as soon as it is possible to ensure that they can be returned in safety to Afghanistan."

So continues the battle between the judiciary and the government.