London, Oct 6, IRNA , Iraqi interpreters and other key support staff who have risked their lives to work for Britain in their war effort are to be allowed to settle in the UK, it was reported Saturday.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is due to make a statement on Britain’s future role in Iraq on Monday, will announce the change of policy next week, the Times newspaper said.
Brown vowed in August to “look again” at the issue after an outcry over 91 Iraqi translators, who had fled the country, claiming that their lives were at risk and that they were being abandoned by Britain.
The Times said that hundreds of interpreters and their families will now be given assistance because they collaborated with British forces. Those wishing to remain in Iraq or relocate to neighbouring countries will be helped to resettle, it also said.
According to the Home Office, the number of Iraqis who have worked for the UK since the 2003 invasion could total more than 15,000.
The U-turn comes after it was revealed that the British government had ignored personal appeals from senior army officers in Basra to relax asylum regulations and make special arrangements for Iraqis whose loyal services have put their lives at risk.
The Conservative’s shadow foreign secretary William Hague also had warned that it would be “unacceptable” to abandon the Iraqi interpreters. “As a matter of honour, we have to look after them one way or the other if they have a genuine case,” Hague said.