A Zambian citizen jailed for setting alight council buildings during the 2011 London riots has won his battle to stay in the UK on the grounds he would not be welcomed in his homeland. Joseph Janbazian Zulu, 20, was sentenced to four and a half years for arson and violent conduct for his part in the riots. He was to be sent to his homeland of Zambia but an immigration tribunal overturned the decision. Conservative MP Philip Hollobone said he was disgusted by the decision. He told the Sun on Sunday: This is unacceptable. The human rights act needs to be replaced. Any foreign national convicted of a crime should be deported and banned from ever returning. Janbazian moved to the UK from Zimbabwe in 2003 to join his mother and was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2010. He has two older brothers who also live in the UK and two younger half siblings whose father is a Nigerian national now married to his mother. Janbazian got involved in the riots during the summer of 2011 and set fire to the offices near his home in Haringey, north London. He denied arson and violent disorder but was convicted by a jury. He was ordered to return to his homeland and was told he could keep in touch with his relatives via phone and internet. However he said it breached his right to family life and an immigration tribunal allowed him to remain in the UK. At the tribunal, he said he had never lived in Zambia and had no friends, relatives or contacts there. He added he would have no employment, accommodation and prospects and would be forced to live on the streets. Janbazian, who now lives in Wolverhampton, said he would be unfamiliar with the culture in Zambia and would be at a significant disadvantage because he was mixed race and did not have the facial characteristics or skin colour of many Zambians. In his witness statement he said: I would have nowhere to live and would not be able to support myself. I would be homeless and living on the streets. I feel that as a mixed race person, I would be subject to attack and fear for my personal safety. His mother, in her witness statement, added: I do not have any family in Zambia. Joseph does not know anyone in Zambia; he would have nowhere to live and would end up on the streets. He would have difficulty fitting in to any local community. He is of mixed race ethnicity. I do not have any home town I belong to in Zambia. An appeal judge backed his case and also said he had expressed remorse for his crimes, has not committed any other crimes, had disassociated himself from his friends in his neighbourhood and had matured. He also pointed out that the claimant would not be welcomed (in Zambia) by either the authorities or those in the community given his criminal record. The judge concluded that the effects of deportation would be unjustifiably harsh.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 09:07:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015