Karim family deported (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Karim family deported

11:27am Sunday 1st July 2007 in

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A FAMILY of asylum seekers who fought a long battle to stay in the country were deported on Saturday night.

But supporters of the Karim family have vowed to continue the fight and hope to have them brought back from Pakistan, the country they fled because they feared for their lives due to their Catholic faith.

Police and immigration officials detained Nigel, 53, Pearl, 44 and children Calvin, 12 and Crystal, 14, after a dawn swoop at their former home, in Arthur Street, Nelson, last Wednesday.

They were taken to a holding centre near to Heathrow Airport and, despite last-ditch efforts by their solicitor for a reprieve, they were flown out to Karachi at 8.30pm on Saturday.

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Pearl's brother Patrick Samuels, who lives in Sheffield but has been staying in Nelson to help with the situation, said: "I would just like to thank the community, their friends and the church for the support that we have received.

"This is not the end. We will continue to fight for them to come back. The community is going to work and everyone is going to put their heads together to get them back here.

"It is not going to be easy for them. It is the place that they fled.

"We don't know what the protocol is for when they are handed over to immigration officers at Karachi.

"They may be arrested and interrogated.

"There is no accommodation there for them and they will be at the mercy of friends who might take them in."

The Karims came to this country in 2002 claiming asylum.

In May they were given 30 days to leave after a judicial review was rejected by the High Court and a letter from Pendle MP Gordon Prentice to immigration minister Liam Byrne was dismissed.

Residents of Nelson, friends and teachers at the children's schools and parishioners from their church Holy Saviour, campaigned for the Karims to stay.