TEHRAN- The British government is pressing ahead with a new immigration bill that has been labelled by rights groups as "racist, heinous and unlawful".

The bill, which is being pushed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman means refugees arriving in the UK on small boats will be locked up, their application for asylum deemed “inadmissible”, even if they’re from a war-torn country and deported back to the warzone or a third country, namely Rwanda.

Sunak declared "people must know that if they come here illegally it will result in their detention and swift removal.”

There are many reservations over whether or not the law is compatible with the UK's commitments under international treaties. The bill states that refugees arriving in the UK "will be detained with no recourse to immigration bail or judicial review within the first 28 days".

It adds: "We can maintain detention thereafter so long as we have a reasonable prospect of removal." 

Under the hardline bill, once refugees are removed from the country, they will be prohibited from ever returning again.

The reality is the government’s policy is very cruel, as only the most vulnerable people risk their lives and the lives of their children by taking the highly dangerous route of crossing the Channel Sea’s strong waves, via dinghy boats, in the hope of finding a safe haven.

Asylum seekers and refugees are a direct result of the British government’s involvement in wars, conflicts and other methods of interference London conducts across West Asia, Africa and beyond.

Harrowing images that went viral around the world such as that of lifeless three-year-old Syrian kid Alan Kurdi who was photographed lying face-down off European shores several years ago is a direct result of the UK militarily interfering in West Asia.

Alan would have been alive today if the UK and other Western governments had not backed militants and terrorists in Syria.  

Millions of Syrians were forced flee the country as the West trained militants, financed them, and delivered sophisticated arms to them.

The same applies to Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and elsewhere. There is consensus among immigration experts that if you end military adventurism abroad, it will stop desperate refugees from arriving at your shores.

Another factor that will lower the number of refugees in the UK is if London ends its support for the U.S. sanctions regime against other nations and stops interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.

While human rights groups as well as the UN Refugee Agency have strongly denounced the plans, Sunak and Braverman, who are spearheading the new immigration bill have enjoyed the support of far-right parties and politicians across Europe.

The irony is Braverman herself is of Indian descent whose parents emigrated to the UK from Mauritius and Kenya in the 1960’s.

This is the same era when Mauritius was under British rule until 1968 when the island became independent. Also in 1963, Kenya was freed from its British colonial oppressors and declared independence. 

The UK Prime Minister himself is also of Indian descent whose parents migrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s as well.

Outrage over the new policy, which is expected to pass parliament, also hit the headlines after remarks by popular sports presenter Gary Lineker (employed by UK state broadcaster the BBC), who described the terms used by the government against refugees “to that used by Germany in the 30s”.

"Good heavens, this is beyond awful," he wrote on social media in response to a video of Braverman.

In another post on the social media platform Twitter Lineker wrote: "There is no huge influx. We take far fewer refugees than other major European countries.

"This is just an immeasurably cruel policy directed at the most vulnerable people in language that is not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s, and I'm out of order?"

Braverman has used terms such as “invasion” to describe the asylum seekers entering the country.

In 2022, 45,755 men, women and children crossed the Channel in small boats to reach the UK. Many activists have condemned the terminology used by Braverman.

While 46,000 refugees have been described as an “invasion” of the country, Iran has welcomed upwards of three million Afghan refugees as a result of four decades of war and instability in Afghanistan.

And if 45,755 is termed as an “invasion”, what must the Palestinians be thinking?

Lineker's Twitter account has 8.7 million followers. So he has a very large following, which is why Braverman and her Conservative colleagues have strongly hit back at him in public.

Still, after those posts caused controversy among some, the presenter embarrassed the government in another post that read "Great to see the freedom of speech champions out in force this morning demanding silence from those with whom they disagree."

Many have come out in support of Lineker, including journalist Emily Maitlis who said it was "curious that Gary Lineker [was] free to raise questions about Qatar's human rights record - with the blessing of the BBC - over the World Cup, but cannot raise questions of human rights in this country if it involves criticism of government policy."

Last year, a different post by Lineker about then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss calling for a boycott of the European Champions League final in Russia also caused outrage among the government hierarchy.

But the sports presenter highlighted the government hypocrisy questioning whether “her party will hand back their donations from Russian donors?"

Human Rights activists have slammed the government’s bill as “heinous and reckless”. They have condemned it as “tramping” on international human rights and have pledged to mobilize protests.

Weyman Bennett, a leading figure with ‘Stand Up To Racism’ movement says the new policy was another “unthinkably heinous” attempt by the PM and the Home Secretary to divert attention from the record inflation levels back home and twisting the narratives around asylum seekers to right-wing thinking.

“It is wholly about the demonization and scapegoating of refugees. It is about telling us - during a cost of living crisis and when the government faces growing challenges from hundreds of thousands of workers striking – that the problem is refugees arriving by small boat,” he said.

“This is about a government fighting to break our humanity and solidarity and replace it with the lowest, narrowest attitude to people simply looking to live in safety.”

He added “We must stand up to racism. We must stand in solidarity with the refugees. Our government has used refugees as a human shield. We must fight back together, against all bigotry and racism.”

Clare Moseley, CEO of refugee rights charity Care4Calais, accused Sunak of "persecuting victims of war, torture and human rights abuses while stoking division in our communities with the use of inflammatory rhetoric.”

The former opposition Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, added his voice to the chorus of condemnations saying “Sunak’s latest asylum ban is immoral, inhumane and in breach of international law …. [Sunak] is escalating his war on refugees: to stoke division, hatred & fear. Seeking asylum is a human right - we must fight back to protect it.” 

Human rights groups are set to stage street protests across the capital London as well as Glasgow and Cardiff on March 18 under the hashtag “resist racism”.