Student held in Dungavel detention centre by Home Office amid allegations he ‘worked too much’

The student was taken into detention after a raid on his work place.

A post-graduate student at Stirling University has told how he is “mentally down and out” after being held in an immigration detention centre for seven weeks by the Home Office.

Muhammad Rauf Waris was taken to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire and had his visa cancelled after an immigration raid at his workplace when authorities claimed he had breached the terms of his visa by working more than the legally permitted 20 hours per week.

He was denied bail.

Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre, located near Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, has been used to house asylum seekers since 2001.

The student has claimed he was following his visa requirements, attending all of his classes, and completing all of his assignments. He was detained despite providing payslips which he says prove he has not worked over the 20-hour limit on student visas.

This comes months after Glasgow University graduate Youssef Mikhaeil was detained in Dungavel and booked on a flight home to Cairo. His deportation was postponed in June after his case was taken to the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Mr Waris has told Stirling STAR (Student Action For Refugees) that he is experiencing extreme emotional distress and declining physical and mental health since his detention.

He said: “I don’t want even my worst enemy to face this kind of mental torture that I am facing at the moment, as my health is very bad since I have been here. I can’t eat anything and whatever I am eating, I am vomiting next minute … I am mentally down and out, and I am not the only one. My family is suffering because of this unlawful detention.”

A statement signed by STAR, Amnesty International, the National Union of Students Scotland and the European Students’ Union has urged the Home Office to review his case and properly assess the evidence provided in a timely manner.

The organisations also state they are becoming increasingly worried about the student’s health and warned he “continues to live in limbo”.

NUS Scotland president Ellie Gomersall said: “The student has been unnecessarily and inhumanely detained for seven weeks and denied bail despite his declining mental health and his ability to provide proof that he has not exceeded the legal limits of how much he can work.

“The cap of 20 hours on the amount international students can work is part of the inhumane hostile environment imposed by this UK Government. In the worst cost-of-living crisis seen in decades, many students need to work more than this simply to be able to afford to eat and pay rent. Denying that right to international students is why 21 per cent of those in Scotland have experienced homelessness.”

Ms Gomersall added: “NUS demands that the student is immediately released on bail while his case is properly and fairly reviewed, and we want to see the end of the cruel immigration and asylum policies which play with the lives of vulnerable people for cheap political point-scoring.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Illegal working causes untold harm to our communities, cheating honest workers out of employment, putting vulnerable people at risk, and defrauding the public purse. The Government is tackling illegal immigration and the harm it causes by removing those with no right to be in the UK.”