Amnesty responds to news that no charges are to be brought in Mubenga removals case

Amnesty International has said that now is the time to overhaul the removals process in the UK, and to introduce independent monitoring of private contractors following the decision not to charge anyone for Mr Jimmy Mubenga’s death.

The Crown Prosecution Service said today, that there is not enough evidence to charge anyone over the death of  Mr Jimmy Mubenga, an Angolan man who died while being deported. Mr Mubenga collapsed while being restrained on a British Airways flight preparing to leave Heathrow Airport for Angola on 12 October 2010.

Jan Shaw, Refugee Programme Director at Amnesty International UK, said:

“The case of Jimmy Mubenga is truly tragic and it is terrible that his family have been made to wait almost two torturous years before learning that no charges will be brought against the G4S security firm employees.

“One of the main reasons the decision not to charge anyone was taken is that nobody actually saw clearly what happened to Mr Mubenga, which is precisely why Amnesty has been calling for independent monitoring of removals.

“If the UK government continues to outsource vital jobs like this to security firms, which other European countries don't, then it must improve the training given to employees and independently monitor their conduct.”

In July 2011, Amnesty published a report which found that private security companies, contracted by the UK Government, were using dangerous and improper control and restraint techniques and called for an overhaul of the system.

• Download media briefing - Out of Control: The case for a complete overhaul of enforced removals by private contractors (pdf)