Judge rules for asylum seeker to travel north

A JUDGE has told the minister for justice he may transfer a heavily pregnant 27-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker by road to the North, providing British authorities agree not to remove her from the island of Ireland pending the birth of her child next month.

Mr Justice Gerard Hogan refused to grant Rizwana Aslam an injunction restraining her return to Britain, which the minister claimed was the proper jurisdiction in which she should seek asylum. He did restrain her transfer by either sea or by air.

“One cannot readily countenance the mandatory transfer of a heavily pregnant woman by sea, not least during winter conditions, with the prospects of gales and turbulent conditions,” Judge Hogan said yesterday.