New Report Details Threats to Immigration Lawyers in Britain
New York — Today, Human Rights First released a report detailing threats to immigration lawyers in Britain by right-wing extremists during widespread rioting in July and August.
Easy Targets: Immigration Lawyers in Britain Threatened by Far-Right Violence examines the violent threats made against those offering legal services to migrants, how they were forced to respond, and how the threats followed years of vilification of immigration lawyers by senior British government officials.
The violence followed a mass stabbing in the city of Southport on July 29 when three children were killed. Far-right extremists circulated false claims that the perpetrator was a Muslim asylum seeker.
During the violence, extremists shared a list of 39 targets, including immigration lawyers, those offering legal services to migrants, and refugee shelters, to thousands of people in a group on the social media app Telegram. The list included the addresses of lawyers’ homes, and some told Human Rights First they had received violent threats and were forced to close their offices.
“It’s clear that these threats didn’t come out of the blue, but after a long history of political rhetoric targeting human rights lawyers in the UK,” said Brian Dooley, senior advisor to Human Rights First s and author of today’s report. “Lawyers in Britain are looking for support from the United States and elsewhere in countering the attacks on social media which can too easily become offline violence.”
Immigration lawyer Harjap Singh Bhangal showed Human Rights First social media posts saying, “Immigration lawyers have blood on their hands,” and “Filthy scum lawyers are destroying the country for personal greed! Why can’t they be the ones getting constantly stabbed!” and an email he received saying “I hope you are shot in the head.”
The report places the threats against lawyers in Britain in a context of worldwide attacks against human rights lawyers, including in the U.S., and recommends steps to help protect lawyers defending the rights of others.
The intense violence lasted for over a week, and ended following swift action by the police, the court system, and the new British government, and by large-scale counterprotests across the country.
“The rioting has stopped for now, but lawyers warn the violence could return, and that the UK government should do a better job of protecting them,” said Dooley. “Lawyers in the U.S. and elsewhere should also engage with their British counterparts to better understand how the far right violence was organized, and what lessons they might learn in case they are themselves targeted by this transnational extremism.”
Human Rights First has for decades worked for the protection of human rights lawyers in the UK and many other countries, and against U.S. and international violent extremism.
