Who? Emily Soothill, partner at Deighton Pierce Glynn, Bristol.
Why is she in the news? Representing people detained at Manston short-term holding facility in a case against the government for allegedly unlawful detention and other breaches of their rights.
Thoughts on the case: ‘My colleagues and I are representing children, victims of trafficking and torture who we consider were subject to inhuman and degrading conditions at Manston in autumn 2022. The facility became severely overcrowded during that time as a result of a Home Office decision not to move people to asylum support accommodation within 24 hours. Our clients report sleeping on the floor of tents with hundreds of others with insufficient access to healthcare, bedding, showers or food, in some cases for over a month. We understand that physical violence and racist language were used against asylum seekers, that detainees attempted to self-harm using barbed wire and that people were locked in isolation vans allegedly as a form of punishment. Infectious diseases were also allowed to spread and an asylum seeker sadly died of diphtheria. People seeking asylum are more vulnerable to physical and mental illness. They have the right to be treated with dignity and should not be detained in this way. We consider that our clients and thousands of others were falsely imprisoned and that the conditions in Manston were such that human rights were breached. There now needs to be an Article 3–compliant public inquiry into how this was allowed to happen and accountability for the significant harm suffered.’
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘The home secretary acted on the advice she was given to establish an independent inquiry into events at the Manston short-term holding facility between June and November 2022, in line with the commitments made by her predecessors, and on the terms agreed through the subsequent legal process. That inquiry will now proceed and we are supporting it fully. It would be inappropriate to comment further whilst it is ongoing.’
Dealing with the media: ‘The media played an integral role in shining a light on what was happening at Manston, when lawyers and NGOs were not allowed inside and asylum seekers had to resort to throwing letters over the barbed wire fences to the press to try to get help.’
Career high: ‘After representing hundreds of asylum seekers over the last few years challenging their unlawful accommodation in large sites such as Napier Barracks, Wethersfield Airfield and on the Bibby Stockholm barge, watching the Bibby Stockholm being towed away from Portland Port at the beginning of this year was definitely one of my career highlights.’
Career low: ‘There are times in my career when judgments have not gone my way but, as a wise lawyer once told me, victories come in different guises and sometimes the most important ones involve losing in court.’
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