The Iraqi government has obstructed the deportation of thousands of asylum seekers who have lost the right to remain in Britain.
It has prohibited the repatriation from Europe of thousands of Iraqis and warned airlines that return deportees they face huge fines.

The UK has been unable to return any refused Iraqi asylum seekers since March 2011, largely because of legal disputes over their arrival at Baghdad airport and the collapse of security in Iraq.

The Home Office claims it returned 103 people to Iraq in the opening three months of 2012, however that figure includes those who returned voluntarily.
After the illegal UK and US-led violation of Iraq in 2003, millions of Iraqi nationals left the country, with many attempting to gain entry into European countries.

In the UK, claims for asylum were estimated at around 2,000 per year between 2003 and 2009, with about 10 per cent authorised full refugee status or leave to remain.

The International Federation of Iraqi Refugees (IFIR), based in London, which has been the spearhead of the fight against the repatriations to Iraq, said the parliamentary motion was a triumph for refugees.

Spokesman Dashty Jamal, said: ‘This is a great victory for Iraqi refugees, who are the victims of war and oppression. Norway and Denmark have been sending refugees back by force recently.

They will now have to stop.
‘I understand some people have already been turned back at the border since the weekend.
‘We know that there are at least 1,300 Iraqi refugees in the Netherlands alone who have been threatened with being sent back. Sweden has said that it has received 20,000 asylum applications from Iraqis since 2003.’

A British government official derided the motion as political posturing, which was unlikely to affect the UK government’s deportation of Iraqi nationals.
A Home Office spokesman continued: ‘We continue to make returns to Iraq on a case by case basis.’