22-01-2016, 11:16 AM
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Sudanese refugee who walked Channel Tunnel to face trial
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/sudanese-r...152805559.htmlCANTERBURY, England (Reuters) - A Sudanese man who walked through the Channel Tunnel from France in an extreme example of the desperate measures refugees are prepared to take to reach Britain will face trial for obstructing a railway, a court was told on Thursday.
Abdul Haroun, who is from the war-ravaged region of Darfur, walked for close to 12 hours in near total darkness last August, dodging high-speed trains and evading security cameras, before he was arrested by British police close to the English end of the tunnel at Folkestone.
He was charged and sent to prison, where he remained until he was given bail on Jan. 4.
In December he was also granted asylum by British authorities - a decision his supporters hoped would lead to the charge being dropped, but which tunnel operator Eurotunnel and some lawmakers criticised as encouraging other migrants to risk the walk.
Thousands of migrants are camped out in squalor near the northern French ports of Calais and Dunkirk, seeking clandestine ways to enter Britain such as stowing away on trucks or trains.
Haroun was the first person known to have made it through the 31-mile (50-km) tunnel on foot.
Since then, two Iranian men have also walked through the tunnel. They too were arrested and charged with the same offence and are due to stand trial in April.
FRAMING THE DEBATE
The Calais and Dunkirk camps are among many flashpoints in a continent-wide crisis that saw over 1 million refugees and migrants enter Europe last year, most to escape war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa. Almost 3,700 died or went missing in the attempt.
In Britain, Haroun's case has framed a heated political debate over whether refugees should be welcomed or stopped from coming.
The issue will feature heavily in campaigning for a referendum on whether Britain should stay in the European Union, expected to take place later this year.
Since being freed on bail, Haroun has been living with a volunteer from a charity that has supported him through his detention, prosecution and asylum application.
Haroun attended Thursday's hearing at a court in Canterbury, southeast England, in a dark grey suit and a blue shirt and surrounded by supporters. He spoke only to confirm his name.
About a dozen refugee rights campaigners staged a protest outside the courthouse, holding up banners in support of Haroun.
The offence with which he is charged carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Judge Adele Williams provisionally set Haroun's trial for June 20 and extended his bail.
22-01-2016, 11:42 AM
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Re: Sudanese refugee who walked Channel Tunnel to face trial
Once news gets about that this man is being housed, fed and given money because he entered the UK illegally there will be gangs of them attempting the same thing. What happens then? Do the trains simply mow them down? As one man said when asked why he was determined to get to the UK "free housing and free money". No matter what this manīs circumstances were he has broken the law, he is not a hero, he is a criminal.
22-01-2016, 12:44 PM
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Re: Sudanese refugee who walked Channel Tunnel to face trial
Its really terrible how our citizens have to wait sometimes years for a house yet these scum come over here and get the lot, it makes my blood boil. Its all the do- gooders that are causing the problems not just the Government.
22-01-2016, 01:53 PM
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Re: Sudanese refugee who walked Channel Tunnel to face trial
Have to agree with you Doc, the first thing this cowardly government should have done is put him and the others back onto a Eurotunnel train accompanied by guards and hand him back to the French. They are the idiots who are making life so comfortable for everyone whilst they wait to break laws.All the do-gooders and especially the greedy are doing is slapping our own in the face, no school places, no hospital date forthcoming, no place at our surgeries, no school place for our own children, unaffordable care for our own vulnerable, elderly and disabled. no chance of work due to undercutting or accepting lower wages. cuts, cuts, cuts everywhere.
But of course it won't effect them will it? cheaper labour, and very unlikely our creaking services will never touch their lives.
In a perfect world we could and would open our borders to those in need, but we are almost broken in this country so we can't and shouldn't, not when it means our own people suffering because of it. and suffering they are ! I defy anyone to say otherwise.
22-01-2016, 02:43 PM
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Re: Sudanese refugee who walked Channel Tunnel to face trial
I don't pretend to understand all this political wotnot,and feel deeply sad for anyone having to flee their homeland .As someone already said what about us,our needs our beliefs,after watching a bit of that programe last night about the "jihadi next door " i for one am worried that these people may not all be simply asylum seekers.22-01-2016, 06:15 PM
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Re: Sudanese refugee who walked Channel Tunnel to face trial
Many are not asylum seekers they are gradually infiltrating into all the European countries for a takeover it will happen. It may take a few years but they breed like rabbits so there won't be many years to wait. Just hope im not around because no way would i submit these scum.They remind me of the grey squirell takeover from the red squirell a gradual taking over so now you are very lucky to see a red squirell a bit like some of our towns, its now a game called spot the white face. Im sure you know what i mean.
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